The examiner., 1882-02-11
WILD ANIMAL TAMERS.
"Ang About MenaRerie AniuoI> .,u How They Are Tamed,

.u:o clrcus-tent know at sight ever
 animal tha. is likely to be found tberf
 1no as sooE as they have nodded recoo
 can be do?' " 'A "nS
 Hor this reason almost every dan
 gerous creature in the best recent col
 lect1ons has been both wild and tame
 me Hons, the tigers. the partners, ar
 as large and terrible-looking as ever
 and 1t would be just as dreadful A thin,
 they should get loose among tn
 spectators. It is worth while, there
 1ore' to see them all playfully submis
 slVe to little man CT woman with
 mere whip in hand. "'''N
 ,, A d1rect Consequence of all this i
 Cnat the nore wild beast can be tauph
 Sne Enore he Is worth, but there is nc
 1e1ilng how stupid some lions and othe,
 savages are. The very best of them
 even after all kinds of good schooling
 retain 8 lurking disposition to make 2
 meal ot their keeper or of anybod,
 else if good opportunity is given fo1
 It. Tanning" is 8 process which has
 to be constantly renewed, for the tamest
 tiger IS tiger still, and there has been
 no change in his born conviction that
 all other living creatures are ssgane ,
 for him. The best lion and tiger
 " kings of to-day say that every time
 they enter cage containing these fierce
 creatures they carry their lives in their hands.
 "Gentle ?'' remarked one of these VentIresome folks the other day.
 Those tigers of mine ? Why, do you see that whip? I know as we'll as know anything that if I drop that whip when 1 am in that cage they'll be on
 mo. Their idea of obedience is con- nected with the whip, first; then with my voice; then with ny face. Severi- tyr Cruelty? No use at all. never use cruelty in training them. Only patience. When take on new cage of beasts work to get them used to me; feeding them cleaning the cage i; talking to them; all that sort of thing, before go in among them. Then I do that. It's ticklish piece of busi- ness going in the first time, and I pick my ch3nce for it when they're specially pe@ceable. I go right in just as if it were matter of course, but I keep my eyes about me. It's all hurnbug that mans eye has any power over a Wild beast. Your eyes are to watch their motions-that's all. They'll find out quickly enough if you're getting care less. They're sure enough to be watch ing you all the time. Are they intelli- gent? We'll, there's as much difference among lem as there is among men. | can train really intelligent lion, right from the wild, in about four weeks so that 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 we'll in hand inside of two months. They're the meanest of brutes. They never understand anything but club The easiest to train, because they know the most, are pumas. l can teach puma all it needs to know in four weeks | Affection? Teach those fellows to love you? That's all nonsence. They'll l lawn and lawn on you, and you'll think | you've done 1t, maybe. Then you go l into the cage if you want to without | y"u whip, or when they're in bad l temper, and find out for yourself what | they'll do. SAe that dent in the side l of my head and those deep scars on my atm There are more down here"- batting his leg. "Got lem from the best trained lions you ever saw. It's awful sometimes to have one of those fellows kind O smell of you and yawn and shut his jaws, say close to one of ~our knees See my wife toere? El t'sthe Panther Queen,' just as I'm Tiger King and that fellow yon- der's 'Lion King Her pets are playing with her now, but they've scratched her we'll, I tell you. There's great odds among them, though, and that young puma with her head up to be kissed is what you might call gentle. Only they're all treach- erous. Every lion king gets sick of it after while. I could name more than a dozen of the best who have given it up right in the prime of life. Once they give it up nothing I'll tempt lem inside of cage again. You see every 1 now and then some other tanner gets badly clawed and bitten. They've all | been clawed or bitten more or less themselves. The strain on 8 mans | nerves is pretty sharp-sure death 1 around him all the while. And the pay | isn't anything like what it was.'
 It naay be true that the strictly pred atory animals of the cat kind are never l old hippopotamus of the leading Ameri- | can "show" seems to have formed a genuine attachment for his keeper, 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 8 sudden charge" after a luckless by- etander. After that he will crustily and gruntingly obey his keeper, and 1 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 splen- did front of lion than between the sullen eyes of even 8 very youthful hippopotamus.
 The "keeper" question is one of prime importance in collecting and managing l wild animals. Trainers of the right | kind are scarce, and although high pay l hardly can be afforded it will not do l to put rare and costly animals in the care of stupid or ignorant men. Such l qualities as courage, patience, good temper and natural aptitude for tho occupation are also needful, and they | are not always to be had for the asking. Unless the right men are secured, how ever, the failure of the menagerie is only a question of time. AS for the specimens" themselves, 1t is much easier to obtain them than it once was, owing to the better facilities for trans