Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-02-23
WILD ANIMALS AND THEIR TAMERS

WILD ANIMALS AND lHE1h lame rs
Most youngsters who pay their way
into Il circus-tent know at sight ever,
animal that is likely to be found there
and, as soon as they have nodded recog
milton at him, are sure to ask: ssWha
can he do?''
For this reason, almost every danger.
Gus creature in the best recent collec.
tons has been both wild and tame. The
lions, the tigers, the panthers, are az
large and terrible-iooking as ever, anG
it would be just as dreadful thing il
they should get loose among the specta
tors. 1t is worth while, therefore, tc
see them all p'ayfully submissive to 6
little man or woman with mere Whip
in hand.
\ direct consequence of all this is that
the more a wild beast can be taught. the
more he is worth, but there is no telling
how stupid some lions and other savages
are. The very best of them, even after
all kinds of good schooling, retain a
lurking disposition to make meal OF
their keeper, or of anybody else, if a
good opportunity is given for it. Tam
ing is q process which has to be con-
stantly renewed, for the tamest tiger is
a tigers till, and there has beenno change
in bis born conviction that all other liv-
ing creatures are game 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
venturesome folks the other day.
s. Those tigers of mine ?-Why, do you
see that whip? know, as well as l
know anything, that if I drop that whip
when [ am in that cage they'll be on
me. Their idea of obedience is con-
nected with the whip, first; then with
my voice; then with my face. Severity?
Cruelty? No use at all. [ never use
cruelty in training them. Only pa
tience. When take on a new cage of
beasts [ work to get them used to me;
feeding them; cleaning the cage; talk
ing to them; all that sort of thing; be-
fore | go in among them. Then I do
that. It's a ticklish piece of business,
going in the first time; and pick my
chance for it when they're specially
peaceable. I go right in, just as if it
were a matter of course, but I keep my
eyes about me. It's humbug 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 care
less. 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. l can train 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 leopard or a tiger. You can't
get hyena well in hand inside of two
They're the meanest of
brutes. They never understand any
thing but club. The easiest
to train, because they know the most,
are purnas. l can teach puma all it
needs to know in four weeks. Alice
ton? 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 60 into the
cage, if you want to, without your whip,
OF when they in bad temper, and find
out for yourself what they'll do. See
that dent in the side of my head and
those deep sears on my arm! There
are more down here, patting his leg.
'sGot 'em from the best trained lions
you ever saw. It's awful, sometimes,
% have one of those fellows kind O.
smell of you and yawn and shut his
Jaws, say, close to one of your knees!
See my wife there? She's the Pan
her Queen just as I'm Tiger King,
md that fellow yonders a Lion King
Her pets are playing with her now, but
they've scratched her well, tell you.
There's great odds among them, though,
md that young puma with her head up
% be kissed is what you might call gen
lie. Only they're all treacherous.
every lion king gets sick of it after
while. ] could name more than
lozen of the best who have given it up
light in the prime of life. Once they
rive it up, nothing'll tempt 'em inside
# cage again. You see, every now
md then some other tanner gets badly
.lawed and bitten. They've all been
lawed and bitten more or less them
elves The strain on a mans nerves
S pretty sharp-sure death around him
Ii the while. And the pay isn't any
hing like what it was"
1t may be true that the strictly pre-
Iatory animals of the cat kind are new
+ to be trusted, but the now three
-ears-old hippopotamus of the leading
american "show'' seems to have |
ormed genuine attachment for his
,eeper, young Italian. He is savage |
to all other men, and when out |
I his den for his very limited exercise,
t is fun for all but the person chased to
ee how clumsily, yet swiftly, he will
make sudden s.charge'' after luck
ess bystander. After that, he will |
rustily and gruntingly obey his keeper,
nd permit himself to be half enticed,
alf shouldered, into his den again.
there should be more room for brains
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