The Opelousas courier., 1894-02-24
SUBDUING WILD BEASTS,
NOT BY KINDNESS. BuA THRoueH
FEAR ARE THET 1emnD:
Il trainer Tells How He Handles the
Beasts When First Placed Under
q His Charge-Nerve REQUIRED.

IL agerie, tells the New York
famed. He says:
work to do with the wild animals up
in the winter quarters in Bridgeport
Df which the public knows nothing.
You see we are getting new wild ami
mails all the time, and as they come to
us there is not a man living who would
dare to go into the cages with them.
During the winter we have to break
those beasts SO that we can handle
them as you see US handle them on the
road"
"And how do you do it?'
"Well, when they come to us they
have thick leather collars around their
necks, with heavy chains attached.
They are more savage then than they
were before capture, their capture
only having served to bring out all
that is ugly in them. They will spit
and growl at anybody who gets near
their cage and jump at the bars until
they exhaust themselves. We begin
to teach them name the very day
we get them, and they take a lesson in
etiquette every day after that until
the show starts out"
"What do you do to them?'
my men eatch the end ofthe chain
fastened to the collar around the new
beasts neck and fasten it to the bars
in such a manner that the beast can
only move a short distance. Then /
take a good rawhide whip and stout
club and enter the cage. I take a
chair and sit down in the corner"
Feeling perfectly cool, I SUPPOSE"
"Yes, SO long as I know hat chain
is solid and securely fastened. Well,
the instant [ get in the beast will give
q o and spring for me. [ would be
torn to shreds if 1 was within reach,
but the chain holds, and instead of
getting at me the lion, tiger, panther
or leopard simply zones to the end Of
his rope, as it were, is brought up
with a shock that sends him in a heap
to the floor of the cage, and I give him
a lash with the rawhide. The beast is
at me again in an instant, and again
| HC SOSo uOWu dlld l. ldSu ullHs l. uSftT
have used the club on an animal, but
[ always keep it handy in case it is
needed. [ keep drawing my chair a
little closer to him as this goes on I'M
til I get SO close that they can touch
me with their noses but cannot bite
me. Then I just sit there and talk to
them, and you would be surprised at
the power the human voice will finally
be made to exercise over wild beasts"
"While l sit talking to one, just out
of reach of his teeth, if he gets ugly
and attempts to spring at mel give him
the rawhide. I keep this up and after
a dozen or fifteen lessons they get so
that they only snarl and growl at my
entrance. As soon as I think it safe I
try the beast without a chain. It is a
little ticklish business at first, but I
have plenty of help ready for the first
effort. If it is a success the first time
you generally have your beast mas
tered, although once in a while a brute
that has been tractable enough will
break out and go for his keeper. We
had such a case here in the Garden
two years ago, when Joseph Foster an
experienced lion tanner, was clawed by
a lioness and nearly killed.
Mr.. Conklin modestly RETAINED
from adding that Keeper Foster would
unquestionably have met a terrible
death on that occasion if it had not
been for the fearless and prompt man
ner in which he attacked the lioness
with an iron prod.
"Generally in the course of winter
We can get a beast SO that he will not
attack his keeper when he enters the
cage" MI. Conklin continued. "We
not only have to get them so that they
vial not attack their keepers, though,
but so that they will not attack each
other, and that is mighty hard job.
Sometimes we can never do that.
There is an old tiger there, of the
most savage brutes I ever handled,
and I could take you into his cage
with him now without the slightest
danger. If I dared to put him in the
same compartment with that big Ben
gal there, though, would have a dead
tiger on my hands in two seconds.
Notice the long mark on the belly.
That is where the Bengal ripped him
two years ago, when | tried to put
them together, as they would show
better that way. If the Bengal's claws
had not been clipped he would have
ripped open the other n and killed
him."
care the claws of all the ferocious
animals clipped?"
seThose Of the cat species always
are. It is an undertaking that re-
quires pretty careful work and plenty
of men, too. You have to get your
lion, your tiger, your leopard or your
panther bound in such a way that you
can throw him on his side in the bot
tom Of the cage. Then you have to
reach in through the bars, grasp his
paws, pull them out through the bars
and hold them tight. They struggle
terribly to free themselves. I killed
a fine leopard this winter trying to cut
his claws. He struggled SO that he
burst q blood vessel and died in
stantly."
.What truth is there in the story of
the power Of the human eye v wild
beasts?"
sIt is a pretty thing to say, and
that is about ALL" Mr.. Conklin re-
piled. "a man who wants to subdue
a wild beast has got to be fearless and
go about it in a courageous way, and
the eye plays its part. The man who
attempted to handle a wild beast who
was not chained with nothing else