German Flea Circus hit by Freeze - all die..... !!

Attrition ~ may refer to the gradual reduction of the size of an workforce by not replacing personnel lost through retirement or resignation.  All establishments have to plan for gradual replacement of their workforce ~ but what would happen if people were to move out en-masse; or an entire group falls victims to some unforeseen incident…. What can the Employer do in such a situation – will one be forced to go out especially if that group is an expert group.. !!

Sure you would have seen and enjoyed a Circus.. in olden days, a Circus coming to a city was a big event and people flocked to the tents to see the clowns and animals performing – acrobats, trapeze acts,  tightrope walking, juggling, stunts and animals riding vehicles and more.  The Ring master would do some breath taking acts including putting one’s head in to the mouth of a lion…. And similar acts… there would be lions, tigers, elephants, monkeys, horses, parakeets and many other animals performing alongside trained artistes.  The Circus tents commonly called ‘big tops’  used to be great hits in our childhood days !

Away, fleas are small insects… fleas form the order Siphonaptera. They are wingless, with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. Fleas are external parasites, living by hematophagy off the blood of mammals and birds. Some flea species include: cat flea, dog flea, oriental rat flea and the like.  

BBC today reports of ‘German flea circus hit by freeze’ ~ it is a circus where  fleas are made to perform tricks such as pulling miniature carts.  BBC reports that a circus in Germany has been scrambling to replace a troupe of fleas that was entirely wiped out by this spring's freezing weather. It should have been the shock of their lifetime for the owners to find those acrobatic insects, which were due to appear at an open-air fair in the western town of Mechernich-Kommern, dead inside their transport box. Flea circus director Robert Birk said he found some 300 fleas dead inside their transport box earlier in the week.

It was the first time the cold had killed a whole troupe in one go. A university insect expert Professor Heinz Mehlhorn managed to provide 50 replacement fleas in time for a performance at an open-air fair. Training began immediately for the new recruits. "I worked solidly for two days," said Mr Birk, according to the Online Focus website, noting that the replacement team lacked a little pazazz.

Michael Faber, who organises the fair in the western town of Mechernich-Kommern, told the Associated Press news agency that he hoped the new fleas would get through the show without suffering further casualties. "We saved the situation, otherwise there would have been no performance," he said, as quoted by Online Focus.

Fleas are famous for their phenomenal strength which allows them to pull 160,000 times their own weight and jump to heights 100 times their size. When contacted Mr Faber told the Independent the story was not an early April Fools joke.

It was good business sense for them to find a new batch, recruit, train and ensure that the show goes on….

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st April 2013

Courtesy : bbc.co.uk for the news.