The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-06-09
LIONS HAVE THEIR PETS.
An Animal Trainer Tells OF Rats In Cas-
With the King Of Beasts.

An Animal Trainer Tells Of Rats In . Cage
With the King Of Beasts.
An animal-trainer who was exhibit
ing his cage of lions in New York re-
Gently, said: 81 never saw a lion kill
rat or mouse. and have had many
of the little animals put in the cage
with my five lions My attention was
first drawn to this when was on my
way from London to Batavia, in Java.
on the ship Rotundo. had my five
lions with me, and one day saw Leo.
my favorite lion: lying down and hold
ing between mis- paws very loosely
monster ship rat 1 thought perhaps
chat the cat instinct in the lion had
made him catch it, and that he would
probably play with it awhile, then eat
1t. and SO l watched. Imagine, how
ever my surprise when l saw him loos.
en- the rat, and the rat made no at
tempt to get away. but run
up and over his gigantic paws
and play with him. We were
a long time making the trip, and every
day this ships rat went into Leo's
cage, and the two played together as
gently as two children. l made sew
eral attempts to capture the rat, hop
ing that perhap. 1 might take it ashore
with me, but 1 could not succeed, and
old Leo did not like at all my attempt
ing to interfere with his pet. There
was another instance subsequent to
this where Leo had a pet rat, which
makes me believe that the lion has
real fondness for the rodent. 1t was in
1881 in Calcutta. We were playing at
the Maiden, and when I went in to see
my pets one morning 1 saw that Leo
had found another rat for pet. My
five lions were all together, but this
rat would play only with Leo. There
the other lions would not look at them.
In Hamburg 1 once knew a case of
sick tiger to whom it was deemed
necessary to give some fresh, warm
blood to tone up his system, and to
further this end live rabbit was put
in the cage with the tiger. The tiger
played with the rabbit for days before
he would touch it. He finally killed
and ate it.
Nov, there is another peculiar thing
about lions, and that is that they will
not eat the flesh of fowl. You might
tempt them with canvasback duck or
the daintiest SQUAD, but they would re.
fuse it. This is a scientific fact.
have tried it many times. 1 remember
once having a swan which had broken
its wing. We killed it, dressed it care
fully and threw it into the cage of the
lions. but they would not touch it, and
it finally had to be taken out and
thrown away. have repeatedly put
pigeons alive into the cage, just to see
what they would do. 1 have thrown
grain down among the lions. and the
pigeons have actually got down and
hoped around the big brutes, even
on their backs, the lions MAX
ing no attempt to disturb them, even
seeming to enjoy their companionship
''Now. there is something strange
about this which is rather difficult to
explain. To my mind, it argues that a
lion is not brutal in his instincts.
Savage. he undoubtedly is. Fierce at
all times, but fierce with justice. 1 be-
lieve every one of my lions has con.
science; l known every one of them
knows the difference between right |
and wrong; they know their wondrous
power and are charita BILE. They |
would never attempt to injure some |
hing which in no way could do them
harm. The study of lion, his habits,
and capabilities, is one of the
most interesting know. 1t offers
ield as yet comparatively unknown,
put the more one goes into it, the more
lime one takes to find out just what a
ion is, the more he is convinced THAT
he has rightly been named the king of
,easts."-N. Y. Tribune.