The Yazoo sentinel. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1878-1916, 1891-05-07
TEACHING LIONS.
VARIOUS STEPS EXPLAINED
BY A PRACTICAL TRAINER.
Entering the Cage Of the King Of
Beasts and Gaining His Confidence
Learning bis Disposition and
Teaching HIM Tricks.


Long before began to teach hons
saws i. +. Darling in the New Yorl
Telegram, I had been acquainted will
the character Of the animals. | ha'
dealt in wild animals, had attended them
fed them. and Sd was accustomed Z
them. knew considerable about thei
nature and habit from observation aRC
no, from the reading Of books. uSeC
TO be particularly Interested in the babl
1 lions or cubs. anh would endeavor L
cultivate their tiendship and max,
them fond Of me.
When | resolved TO train these lions e
nerform tricks Started with fourteen OF
the animals. 0ay two Of that number
proyed seysiceabhJ and those now
have. sad they psrform at each OF my
entertainments. Of the twelve lions
! discarded some wire Stupid, Others died,
and some were vikioas and several times
| hurt me.
In trsining the animals the first thing
did was to 90 in their cage and sit
there. Nothing more than that, simply
sit there hour after hour
You may ask whether wasn't afraid
to do this. No because, as say, had
for years been ACCUSTOMED TO be with
wild beasts. / wiz not say it is pleas
ant experience to &C in a lions den, but
i is not so bad a. you might think it
would be if you know the nature OF the
animals you deal with.
When first weat into the cage the
lions would growl: now and then they
would act as if they were going to bite
me. When they we're kind and quiet l
would talk to them pleasantly, as you
would talk to a vicious dog you were
trying to train to like you. | would call
them good old fellows, slime old fell
lows, and so on, and so they would get
used to kind tone Of voice. Aiter9a
while, some two or three months, when
they were in their quiet moods | would
venture to touch them, finally to pat
them gently on the head or to stroke
them on the back. When they were cross
| would stand apart from them, but
without showing any signs of fear
used no force with them. Such method
might do in training some kinds OF ami
mails, but it would not do with lions.
BY being in the lions cage day after
day, and spending hours at time there
and never ill-treating them / gained
their confidence. Naturally they are
afraid of human beings, or rather, l
should say, they dislike the presence Of
human beings. In. their native state
lionse when young and active, live by
hnVting in the forest far from human
Hbfatio1s and seldom quit their re-
heats while they are able to gain their
= osi1fnee. When they become old and
eble to sufprisa their game they boldly
cdFhe odQRlR iaKhabig rs more frequented.
They .attacIk out het s and herds near
the habi ~ rChore ehepherd Or the
nusoandn throy. ImafKable, how
ever, whenNya aes2ke their sallics, if
they find men t6ed quadrupeds in the
same field they only attack the latter
and never NEEDLE with men unless they
are provoked to fight.
Lion tanners before me have not sought
to teach the animals tricks. 1t was my
to appeal to their good sense
and intelligence, the same as we do in
the case of the dog or the horse. So,
after had gained the confidence Of my
animals, and was able TO touch them, to
stroke them and to pat them on the
head, would pick out the best lion and
put chain around his neck and lead
him around the cage. 1t took a long
time, you must remember before ! could
touch him, and longer time still before
he would allow me to put the chain
upon him and lead him any distance.
When / had arrived at this stage Of
The training was on such familiar
ierms with my beasts that ! allowed my
'elf to talk sternly to them, and repri.
nand them if they did not obey my
But there is this important thing to be
borne in mind in the training Of lions(and
will mention it in case any of my
7oung readers wish to adopt my profes-
ion) You must continually keep your
we on the animal and see that you are
lot worrying him and making him do |
90 much. You learn TO know his dis
position simply by being with him, the
anne as you know people by being with
hem and studying their dispositions. A
ion easily becomes confused when he is
,eing taught, and when he gets in that
he is apt to be ugly and dan
,erous; and so one of the principal parts
# the lion trainers art is to watch the
ion, to study his disposition and TO stop
'efore you have given him too much to
10.
Training a lion is something ike train
nc a bulldog; you must first gain his
onfdenceand you must let him know
on are his master. After the lion
flowed himself to be led by string
Tould march him around an arena. run
With him, play with him. Then I would
ut trifing obstacles in his way. First
small log, which he would learn 10
amp over: then gradually I would in
rease the size Of the obstacle, using first
small box, then larger box, and 50 on
ntil finally, after many days Of regular
xercise, had jumping lion.
The same kind Of training was pur-
ied in teaching the lion to ride the I
icycle and to drive him like a horse /
was a gradual process Of leading him {
q. After I had got him 50 that he 4
Tould be led around the arena it was ,
OF such a difficult matter 70 drive him {
it'll reius instead OF leading him with
)pe. The same with riding the tricy- '
e, though that Is a more difficult trick Z
i'd took longer time to teach, but i r
as simply leading the animal on from c
ne style Of the performance to the other J
ntil be hsd mastered the art.
Il has taken me from ten 70 thirteen
.onfhs to train my lions. Some are
Iore docile than Others. One i very :