The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-02-10
A Tiger Died OF a Broker Heart he
cause He Had Lost Them.
New York Tribune.

1t is all well enough" said Prof. OAR
ling, Ito oblige many young women who
are anxious to have a lions whisker as a
sort of talisraan, but L do not propose to
itively useless"
Professor Darling stood in front of his
cage at ~HagenbeckS with his big bruteS
huddled up closely to the iron bars waiting
10 De careSSed. For some time he has
oeen pestered TO death by personal appli-
cations and by letters asking for lust one
lions whisker'' until his mail has become
a burden 10 him, and, as he pulled the
Iong, brlstle-like a~ppendages from the
mouths or his lions, he said: 'Once a. lion
loses his whiskers he is practically ruined.
not only so far as his appearance goes.
1 nti Tor ms usefulness rs veil; knew one
sor. 1t was in the Imperial Geological
Garden at Schonbrunn, in Germany. Carl
of the imperial government one Of The
nanGsomest tigers l ever saw i'm ali nv
IRE; he was most beautifully marked and
very terocious, and had TO be handled with
the utmost care. At Mr.. Hagenbeck's re-
guest went with him to help put the tiger
IN the permanent cage in the zoo.
The tiger travelled in a box with bars
IN 'front.', and when the destination was
reached the box was backed up against
the permanent cage and The door Orerpd
to allow the tiger TO enter. but bulge he
would not. We worked at him for hours.
and nothing would induce the animal to
move out of his travelling cage. To make
q long story short, we starved that animal
for three days, with great pieces of meat
lying Just outside of his cage, but it did
no good. When we tried that remedy
which is often tried on wild beasts, al
though few people know of it. the hose
pipe, and we drenched that tiger, but this
did not have any more effect upon him
than the use of an atOmizer on q woman's
hair:
Things were getting in a very desper-
ate state. for with the starvation and chill
Mr.. HaGenbeck feared that ne would lose
the tiger, so he determined 10 try that last
resort-fre. A newspaper was lighted and
with a spring and grabbed the fire right
in his mouth. and as he did SO singed off
al his whiskers. The fire proved rem
Intended for him, and you may believe me
or not, but that animal, with the loss of
his whfskers, lost all of his pride. The i'm
perial government paid an enormous price
for him.. but from the day that he lost his
whiskers he never would face the crowd of
people who came to see him, but would
died. M. Hagenbeck, than whom there is
no greater authority on such subjects, de-
clared. that he died of a broken heart
caused by the humiliation of his pride.
"a lions or tigers whiskers when once
taken off never grow out again. These
beasts shed their hair once a year ordi-
narily, all except their whiskers. Their
shedding depends entirely upon the climate,
and there is q very peculiar fact connected
with the shedding of this hair, and that is
that 1 never knew a lion or a tiger or any
other animal of the cat species to go
through the Red sea without shedding.
have seen animals shed at Suakim and
come out with hair as fresh and glossy as
silk, and yet going through the Red sea
they will shed again. No one can account
Tor 1t. but 1t is a fact nevertheless. This
explains to you" said the Professor, as ne
gave q parting pat TO mis- pet Leo, why
1 have been accused of being ungallant
in not giving whiskers from my pets to
ladies for charms, but | do not propose to
have my. lions injured or their pride hui
inflated"