GOODBYE TO GUNTHER GEBEL-WILLIAMS LEAVING CROWDS BEHIND, NOT CATS.(Show)

Byline: Martin Moynihan Staff writer

The jungle cats were ominously silent. Mere inches away, their huge yellow eyes followed our every move. Bared four-inch fangs, like curved ivory daggers, glistened in the subdued light. When the tiger finally licked, its tongue was like a rasp.

Or so I'm told.

Gunther Gebel-Williams wasn't allowing any visitors to put their hands on his tigers. But he reached readily into their cages in the animal tent of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, stroking the cats' whiskers and getting licked in feline appreciation.

Gebel-Williams did this with what looked like relative impunity. Until you notice that both hands and both forearms are nearly a solid mass of scars, some several inches long, showing the marks of hundreds of stitches.

The way to handle a tiger is "very respectfully" said Gebel-Williams, just before a recent opening night at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. Gebel-Williams, 55, has been the circus' animal trainer for 22 years, and has become one of the most celebrated performers in American circus history.

"First you have to get their friendship," the golden-haired man said in a German accent that occasionally included some unusual phrasings. Then he corrected himself. "A relationship. Friendship is …