St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-07-21

NtnIuItsOUlt IOik Jnt Quiet udN
"Those tigers of mine why, do you
see that whip7 | know, as well as |
know anything, that if | drop that
whip when / am in that cage, they'll
be on me. Their idea of obedience is
connected wit:i the whip, first; then
with my voice; then with my face.
Severity Cruelty? No use at all. l
never use cruelty in training them.
Only patience. When take on a new
cage of beasts l work to get them used
to me-; feeding them; cleaning the
cage talking to them all that sort of
thing; before | go in among them.
Then | do that. It's ticklish piece of
business, going in the first time; and
pick my chance for it when they're
specially peaceable. go right in, just
as If ii were "A matter of course, but |
keep my eyes about me. It's all hum
bug that a mans eye has any power
over wild beast. Your eyes are to
watch their motions - that's all.
They'll find out quickly enough if
you're getting careless. They're sure
enough to be watching you all the
time. Are they Intelligent Well,
there's as much difference among 'em
as there is among men. | can train a
really intelligent lion, right from the
wild, in about four weeks, so he will
do all that the lion kings make them
do. A lioness always takes a couple
of weeks longer, and so does a leopard
or tiger. You can't get hyena well
in hand inside of two months. They're
the meanest of brutes. They never
understand anything but a club. The
easiest to train, because they know the
most, are pumas. / can teach a puma
all it needs to know, in four weeks.
Affection Teach those fellows to
love you ? That's all nonsense. They'll
fawn and fawn on you, and you'll
think you've done it, may be. Then
you go into the cage, if you want to,
without your whip, or when they're in
bad temper, and find out for yourself
what they'll do. See that dent in the
side of my head and those deep scars
on my arm There are more down
here, "-patting his leg. 'Got 'em from
the best trained lions you ever saw.
| It's awful, sometimes, to have one of
| those fellows kind q smell of You and
yawn and shut his jaws, say, close to
one of your knees See my wife,
| there? She's the Panther Queen just
as Pm "A Tiger King and that fellow
yonder's Lion King Her pets are
playing with her now, but they've
scratched her well, tell you. There's
great odds among them, though, and
that young puma with her head up to
be kissed i what You might call gen.
tie. Only they re all treacherOus. Ev-
cry lion king gets sick of it after a
while. could name more than dOz-
en- of the best who have given it up
right in the prime of life. Once they
give it up, nOthimg'll tempt 'em inside
of cage again. lou see, every now
and then, some other tanner gets badly
clawed and bitten. They've all been
clawed and bitten more or less them
selves. The strain on mans nerves
is pretty sharp,-sure death around
him all the while. And the pay isn't
anything like what it was"
1t may be true that the strictly pred
atOry animals of the cat kind are never
to be trusted, but the now three-years-
old hippopOtamus of the leading
American "show" seems to have form
ed genuine attachment for his keep
er, a young Italian. He is savage
enough to all other men, and when out
of his den for his very limited exercise,
it is fun for all but the person chased
to see how clumsily, yet swiftly, he
will make a sudden "charge" after a
luckless bystander. After that, he
will crustily and gruntingly obey his
keeper, and permit himself to be half
enticed, half shouldered into his den
again. There should be more room for
brains, and, consequently, for affection,
in the splendid front of lion, than be-
tween the sullen eyes of even a very
youthful hippOpOtamus.
| The "keeper" question is one OF
prime Importance in collecting and
managing wild animals. Trainers OF
the right kind are scarce, and although
high pay can hardly be afforded, it will
not do to put rare and costly animals
in the care of stupid or ignorant men.
Such qualities as courage, patience,
good temper, and natural aptitude fOl
the occupation are also needful, and
they are not always to be had for the
asking. Unless the right men are Sc
cured, however, the failure of the me-
nagerie is only question of time. AS
for the ''specimensn themselves, it is
much easier to obtain them than il
OANO was, wv w bhC bCbO't
for transporting them from the several
'wild- beast counties" Catching them
in their native wildernesses has been d
regular trade for ages.
The market price of a menagerie an
imal of any kind varies from time tC
time, like that of other merchandise
according to the demand and supply
A writer stated recently that zebraS
are sold at little over $1,000 Il pair
gnus at about $500 pair, while rhi-
nOceroses cost some $4,000 per pair
and tigers about 81 800 each. A short
time ago, however, and perhaps now
very good "uneducated" tiger could
be bought in London for from $500 tC
$500. The same beast, the moment he
takes kindly to learning and promises
to be sparing of his keepers, double.
and trebles in value. There is no tel
ling what he would be worth should h,
show further signs of intellect or gOOC
morals, but he is like a human being
in this respect-the more he knows the
more it will pay to give for him. The
same rule applies to the entire list
from elephants to monkeys, so that NJ
) precise idea can be given of the prOba
BILE cost of a menagerie.-[S st. Nicho
las.
4 l..