Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-04-11
Clipping "a Tigers Claws.

DELICATE SURGICAL OPERATION ON 'JIM,"
THE BENGAL TIGER OF THE PHILADELPHIA
ZOO.
The interesting feat of clipping the in
growing claws of the royal Bengal tiger
"Jim," an inhabitant of the Philadelphia Gar
dens, was accomplished Friday with a great
deal of difficulty. On account of the lack of
constant attrition on rough ground, such as
they would have had if traversing their ma
tive Jungle, instead of the smooth floor of the
cage, Jim's claws had become heightened to
an unnatural size, and, continuing to curve
inward had grown deeply into his paws, by
which the animal was exposed TO an attack of
lock-jaw. Hence the clipping. The we'll
known animal trainer, Mr. A. j. Forepaugh,
was retained for the operation, and appeared
early Friday morning at the carnivora house
of the Zoo accompanied by DIR. Chapman,
physician to the garden, Arthur E. Brown,
the superintendent, and four keepers. Mr..
Forepaugh had provided himself for the op-
Grafton with a strong three-quarter inch rope,
looped at one end, long pole and four short
half-inch cords, also looped. a thick, knotty
hickory club and pair of sharp wire -nippers,
and with these tools proceeded to do the job
as follows:
+. The loop of the larger rope was placed on the
end of the long pole and thrust into the cage.
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thest corner of the cage with a terrific roar,
which startled the other animals, and the lions,
tigers, leopards and hyenas all howled in
chorus. The loop, however, was thrown
over "Jim's" neck, and he was gradually
drawn, in spite of his struggles, TO the front of
the cage.
Mr. Forepaugh now showed consummate
coolness and judgment, and quietly and
quickly directed his assistants to secure the
Il e A. l.
feet" and the fore feet were in the loops
with the aid of an iron scraper, and the tiger,
bewildered at the tactics of his supposed enc
mics, shook his head, roared, and for a few
seconds struggled fercely to get loose, but in
stead of getting loose, opportunity was taken
to get the loops of the other ropes on the
hind feet, and he was thrown on his side and
drawn up to the front of the cage with
his hind feet sticking clear through and the
fore feet to the edge.
In this position he was secured and safety
cords attached to the ends, each one of the
latter being held by one of the assistants, so
that as soon as the operation was completed
all the feet could be loosed at once As soon
as the feet were thus secured, the rope around
the neck was cast off so that the tigers head
was free. One of the keepers was then sta
toned near the head, so that in case he bit at
the ropes binding his feet or at the operator
he could thrust the hard knotted club into his
mouth for him to bite on. This became nee
essary so often that the hard club was chewed
into pulpy brush.
IAN ready" said Mr.. Forepaugh, and,
taking in his right hand large, sharp wire
clip, had each ingrowing claw in turn pryed
from the flesh and Strengthened out, and clip
ped off to the required size. The right hand
foot was the worst one of the claws, having
grown fully an inch into the flesh, and by con-
slant irritation caused the wound to inhame
and tester. As soon as this, with part of
the outer shell, which had been shed into the
wound, had been removed, the tiger appeared
to quiet down and submitted to have the rest
of the claws of the same foot clipped without
making much struggling. The right front
paw was also badly lacerated and intiamed.
The claws were clipped in every case very
quickly and successfully. AS soon as the
claws of each foot were clipped the operator
rubbed burnt alum into the festered wounds
to burn away the proud flesh, and then
poured over the wounds balsam of fir to heal
the same.
After all the claws had been clipped Mr..
Forepaugh, stepping back, cautioned his as
sistants to be ready to pull the safety cord at
the word So the animal, freed from all the
cords at once sprang to his legs like flash
and jumped to the rear of his cage, where he
first licked his bloody chops, and, squatting
soothingly licked his paws, apparently salts
fed that they were still in his possession,
commenced pacing his cage, showing evident
signs of having experienced great relief from
the operation performed on him. The whole
operation occupied only 20 minutes, and was
very satisfactory to all parties. In a few
days the paws win be examined again for
proud flesh.