Connecticut western news., 1888-05-30
A QUEER INDUSTRY.
Trading in the Beasts That Live
 in Menageries.
Hunting Parties Sent Every- where in Search of CuriositieS.

Hunting Parties Sent Every- where in Search of CurloSitieS.
 The expenditure of hundreds of thou sands of dollars each year in the pro- curement of wild beasts, birds and rep tiles seems like the wicked extrava- garcc of some magnificent potcntate, but when it is incurred in. the course of trade it furnishes food for thought by tho philosopher, talk by the moralist and amusement and instruction for tho multitude. MT. Reiche, New York dealer in wild animals, has been inter- viewed on this subject by Graphic re- porter.
 We send out some half a dozen expeditions every year," he said, to different parts of the world. There arc 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 dict lte. 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 we send one to Para and 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 walrusses and sea lions towards the South Pole. They sometimes catch polar bear, but not often.
 'It would be almost impossibl to say what is expended in tho pursuit. The entire capital invested is turned over as frequently as possible. Sometimes we have money lying idle for timo, and sometimes it is all invested in the different consignments ts that are coming home It would be equally hard to cs- timate tho profits, for, of course, the business is full of accidents. We are lia ble to lose the beasts that have cost us the most, and we may get very high prices for some that have cost com parativcly little. There was one hippo : potamus that our hunter, Lohse bought for $6O from some natives on the Settite River in Africa. The ani- nal was only few days old when ho bought it and it was kept for some time before it was sold for $2O, 900. Of course the difference between tho two sums was not all or early 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 come to utter grief though some of the men they employ are frequently killed. In Africa they will have sometimes party of 200 or 300, or even 500 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 professional story teller, and the stories that you find in books arc 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 head quarters at Alfeld. There they are kept for timo if they ara out of condition in any way, or if they have to be accli- mated. From Alfeld they are shipped to one of our distributing depots. We havc several places in different parts o1 the world similar to this one. You may call them salesrooms. Then we send direct to our customers.
 "Who buy thema Oh, circus people, city governments and private collectors. Of course, the circus people are the largest buyers. They use up great many animals. That is, their curiosi- ties die faster than they would if it were not for tho constant travel. They are cared for as we'll as possible, but o1 course the life is hard on them. Ther there arc public and private geological gardens which we supply, and multi tudes of people buy all sorts of pets. Here, for instance, is pet that would be appreciated by great many"
 And he reached down into the barrel the bottom of which was covered witf young alligators, which were squirmlns and straddling around h two or three inches of dirty water. Picking one O. these up by the head he held it in hi hand and poked it to show that it wa soft, being newly hatchcd. Then h. tried to sec If it would bite him, anc finding it would not put it carefully back among it's brethren.