Sea lions perform at fair

By Bennie Scarton Jr.

Published: August 13, 2008

Balancing, dancing and interacting with the audience, three sea lions have made a big splash at this year’s Prince William County Fair.

During each of the shows at the fair, Stella, Rose and Kim have been thrilling fairgoers as they perform in and out of the water, catching and retrieving objects, balancing, executing “handstands” and “singing” which, according to their trainer and show host Gala Rogacheva, “is all part of their naturally mischievous, comedic behavior.”

Stella is the largest of the three sea lions, weighing in at 250 pounds, while the other two come in at about 200 pounds.

The 30-minute show, which has been filling the bleachers daily, has an appeal to all ages. The show is geared around educating the audience on the habits and nature of the sea lions and it brings out the showmanship of the animals.

During each show, Surfer Joe (Carl Kruger), along with Rogacheva, helps put the aquatic creatures through their paces as they perform in and out of the water.

Rogacheva, 24, opens the show by telling the audience that the sea lions perform at their best when “fed fish” and hear a loud response from the stands.

She cautioned that sometimes the animals behave like a 3-year old child, getting stubborn and refusing to perform, “but that doesn’t happen often.” The jokesters have tons of personality and love to show off their special tricks and talent such as balancing a beach ball on their nose and tossing back a Frisbee.

“[They] will leap right into your heart,” Rogacheva said.

Rogacheva has found the Manassas audience “to be among the best” of all the shows she has done in the past two years.

“The response during the shows had been great and all ages of people have come up after the shows and asked interesting questions,”’ she said. The audience can have a photo taken with one of the animals as each show wraps up, having a close encounter with a sea lion — even getting a big hug or a wet kiss.

The idea for the sea lion show was established when Marco and Kathi Peters began adopting and providing a permanent home for beached sea lions who were unable to be returned to the wild due to age or injuries. Because many of these injuries were direct effects of human carelessness, the couple decided to educate the public on the plight of these incredible marine mammals and how humans need to coexist together in harmony. So, they took their show on the road.

Thus began the journey of the Sea Lion Splash, which travels all over North America entertaining thousands of people each year with their unique show. As the only traveling sea lion show (there are three of them on the road at the same time), the company, Squalus Inc. of Myakka City, Fla., ensures that the sea lions have more square foot of water per animal in the show than most sea lions have in public zoos. They eat up to 60 pounds of fish a day, with herring being their favorite.

“The animal’s welfare is always a priority as their transportation and show layout is designed specifically for the animals comfort. They travel in a air-conditioned unit, and two 13,000 gallon tanks were filled for them at the fairgrounds,” said Rogacheva, the daughter of two circus performers — her mother, Olga, an animal trailer, and her father, Oleg, a juggler. Both are now retired. She can serve as host in three languages — English, Spanish and Russian. The show is on the road from June through mid-November.

The local shows are conducted in the Kids’ Zone with daily performances at 6 and 8:30 p.m. and Saturday at 3:30, 6 and 8:30 p.m.

“Sea lions are natural performers and will ad lib without prompting, stealing the show with their cute mischief,” Rogacheva said.