The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-08-18
A QUEER INDUSTRY.
Trading in the Beasts That Live
in Menageries.
Hunting Parties Sent Every
where in Search of CurioSitieS.

The expenditure Of hundreds of thou
sands of dollars each year in the pro-
curcment of wild beasts, birds and rep
tiles seems like the wicked extrava-
gance of some magnificent potentate,
but when it is incurred in the course of
trade it furnishes food for thought by
the philosopher, talk by the moralist
and amusement and instruction for the
multitude. Mr.. Reiche, a New York
dealer in wild animals, has been inter-
viewed on this subject by Graphic re-
porter.
"We send out some half dozen
expeditions every year." he said, to
different parts of the world. There are
three points in Africa to which we send.
One goes to the north of Africa and
thence to tn, interior as far as circum-
stances may dictate. Another goes to
Cape Town and thence northerly by OK
teams into the interior as far towards
Rider Haggard's land of story as may
be- The third goes to the west coast
and through Liberia. Then VIC send
one to Para aud that goes to any point
in South America that seems most de-
sirable. Another goes to Australia and
New Zealand. Then We send parties
out for wal-usses and sea liens towards
the South Pole. They sometimes catch
polar bear, but not often.
ut would be almost impossible to say
what is expended in the pursuit. The
entire capital invested is turned over
as frequently as possible. Sometimes
we have money lying idle for a time,
and sometimes it is all invested in the
different consignments that are coming
home. 1t would be equally hard to es-
innate the profits, for, of course, the
business is full of accidents. We are
liable to lose The beasts that have cost
us the most, and We may get very high
prices fer some that have cost com
paratively little. There was one hipro-
potamus that cur hunter, Lohse
bought for $50 from some natives on
the Settle River in Africa. Tho ami
NAL was only few days old when he
bought it and it was kept for some time
before it was sold for SEQ, 600. or
course the difference between the two
sums was not all or nearly all profit, but
they are illustrative.
Necessarily our hunters run into all
sorts Of dangers, not only from the wild
beasts themselves, but from the natives
in some of the wild countries they have
to explore. They are trained men,
though, and seldom como to utter Criof
though some OF the men they employ
are frequently killed. In Africa they
will have sometimes a party of 200 or
800, or even SEQ natives employed in
hunting the big game. Their stories of
adventure are as thrilling as those in
any book of travel, but the professional
hunter is not often q professional story
teller, and the stories that you find in
books are generally told second hand.
"What do we do with our goods
when we get them? They are, the
most of them, taken to Germany to our
headquarters at Alfeld. There they are
Kept for time if they ar.
out of condition in any way,
or if they have to be acc.i-
mated. From Alfeld they are shipped
to one of our distributing depots. We
have several places in different parts of I
the world similar to this one. You may
call them salesrooms. Then we send |
direct to our customers.
WHO buy them? On, circus people,
city governments and private collectors.
vi course, the circus people are the
largest buyers. They use up a great
many animals. Tina. is, their curiosi-
Ties die faster than they would if it were
moi Tor the constant travel. They are
'1fed Tor as well as possible, but of
course the lie is hard on them. Then
mere are public and private geological
gardens which we supply, and mutt
.uae' of people buy all sorts of pets.
mere, for instance, is a pet that would
W appreciated by great many"
ana he reached down into the barrel,
Inc bottom of which was covered with
!Ouns alIigators, which were squirmlng