Omaha daily bee., 1884-01-02
A LION TRAINER.
His Experience With the King of
Beasts and the Dangers He
Encountered.

'NN'%I 49, 'NN fNssN ~ S'a ~ 80 lN
thy with animals, which is Unborn and
not to be acquired. l began as a boy in
teaching tricks to small animals, then
tried my hand upon q bear which, as a
cub of six months, was procured in Cana
da, and succeeded very well. Jack was
the wonder and delight of the neighbor-
hood.
My first experience in lion training was
in Hamburg, Germany, where | / became
intimate with q professional man, owner
of a "Handels Monagerie, where all the
animals are for sale. He had a group of
five lions and a Bengal tiger which he
was training for a circus. The animals
were all young, varying from eleven to
eighteen months. Yielding one day to
my urgent entreaties, but with the warn
ing to keep close to him, he let me enter
the cage with him, and from that hour
dates my personal experience with the
'king of the forest" After my first
trial | went in several times with Mr..
H., and began to understand the art, and
when, soon after, he was called away to
Berlin on business, l undertook to keep
tho beasts in working order for him, and
brought them ON well. Since then l have
put together two groups, one of six lions
and a leopardess, and the other consisting
of four lions, II tiger, and one Jaguar.
1t is less dangerous to train lions bred
in freedom than those bred in MENACE
ries or geological gardens. This may
seem at tirst very improbable, but when
wild state is utterly unacquainted with
man, whereas his captive brother from
his birth has beer stared at, leased and
tormented by him, one can well under
stand how Familiarity" has bred ''con
tempt" in this case as well rs in many
others. Lions born in captivity learn
their tricks more easily, as they are more
accustomed to their cage and to being
looked at, and their attention is not so
easily diverted from the trainer.
The cage in which one tames lions is
from fourteen to sixteen feet long, nine
and a half to ten feet in width and eight
to ten feet in height. 1t is y mistake to
have the cage too large, as it sensible in
creases the danger to the trainer. The
great danger and the one most to be
avoided is letting the animals get a chance
to spring at you, and to prevent this one
must keep as close to them rs possible.
! Of course, being SO near, the trainer is
often clawed; that is, hit at with the paw,
but this makes only n flesh wound,
whereas, if the lions have room to make
their spring, the man receives their
weight as well as the blow, which, being
nearly always directed at the head, is
generally fatal.
There is very little truth in the popu-
lar idea that the human eye has great
power over lions. 1t certainly makes
him uncomfortable 10 be looked at stead
lily, and he will turn away his head, but
this is only for the reason that his eyes
being further apart than ours, the con-
centrated effort at sight makes him
squirt, which, rs we all know, is strained
and unnatural. How is it possible for a
trainer to keep his eyes upon six or eight
animals at once? If we depended only
upon the power of u eye we should
soon make food for the lions, a chance
they would not be slow to avail them
selves of. No, the whip is the trainers
chief reliance, and it cannot be used too
freely. 1t is made of plated leather,
without lash, and is from two to two and
a half feet long. ! have tried the effect
of electricity upon animals as n means of
training, carrying n small battery in my
pocket and running the wire down
through the middle of the whip so that
when the whip touched one of them he
received a shock; but this did not sue
coed; it excites them 80 much and they
are SO afraid of it that they cannot steady
down to their work.
Before entering the cage | generally
throw in a few handfulls of sawdust to
prevent slipping. 1t is important to en-
ter as quickly as possible and to have a
man ready to open and shut the door.
Tho most dangerous part of the whole
programme is in makingone's exit, which
must be done very quickly. To prevent
the lions trying to get out with you
when they see the door open they must
be driven to the far end OF the cage, and
this does not give them the opportunity
to make a spring, a chance which they
are not slow to improve, and many a life
has been lost at this final moment, when
to outside eyes all dangers have been
overcome.
To make a successful exit, after driving
the animals to the further corner of the
cage, The trainer gradually backs toward
the door, cracking his whip and keeping
his eyes fixed upon the animals. As he
touches the door, the attendant, who is
waiting outside, quickly throws it up, in
one backward step he has passed through,
and it drops again, only just in time to
clear the advancing foe who comes with
wild spring to take his revenge. 1t is
difficult to make the spectator believe
that in this, apparently the easiest part
OF the entire performance, really lies the |
greatest danger of all.
In performing a ~''group," it is better
to put the animals together while still
young 80 that they may grow up togeth-
er. The first trick taught is to Jump
over n hurdle at the word of command,
then to spring through paper-hoops, fire
hoops covered with cottonwood soaked
in spirits and ignited), to lie down to-
gether, forming a couch, upon which the !
trainer stretches himself at full length,
opening their mouths while he puts his
head in, and other acts. OF these tricks
those of the fire hoops are the hardest to
teach and involve the most danger to the
trainer, for If a drop of the burning fluid
falls upon an animal he is wild with pain
and rage and turns upon his tormentor.
My three most serious accidents have
happened in this way
Lions need very careful handling, and
it may also be of interest to some of
your readers to know some of the de-
tails. The temperature in their houses
be always within Ia to IL Reau-
muir. Straw should be put in the cage