The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1894-03-23

A Professional Trainer OF Wild Animals
Tells Some Interesting Incidents-The
Fearlessness of Pigeons Among the Kings
of Beasts.
The way lions treat the tiny creatures
of animal life is study. 1t may be that
there is some animal language, and that
the legend of the little mouse which saw
ed the lions life by gnawing the net has
become known to the denizens of the
jungle and handed down as animal folk
lore, or it may be that the king of beasts
has positive contempt for anything ex-
tremely small, but it is nevertheless a
fact that lions will not attack tiny ami
mails when they are put together. Pro-
fessor Edward Darling, than whom there
is no more profound student of lions
life and character in the country, has
made many curious experiments with
his five big beasts.
81 never saw lion kill a rat or a
mouse" said Professor Darling, land l
have had many of them put in the cage
with nry five lions. My attention was
first drawn to this when l was on my
way from London to Batavia, in Java,
on the ship ROtundo. had my five lions
with me, and in the quarter of the ship
in which they were housed were many
rats. One day l saw Leo, my favorite
lion, lying down and holding between
his paws very loosely monster ship rat.
I thought perhaps that the cat instinct
in the lion had made him catch it and
that he would probably play with ii
awhile, then eat it, and so watched. I'm
agine, however, my surprise when l saw
him loosen the rat, and the rat made no
attempt to get away, but ran up and
over his gigantic paws and played with
him.
1--WE were long time making trip,
and every day this ships rat went into
Leo's cage, and the two played together
as gently as two little children. made
several attempts to capture the rat, hop
ing that perhaps l might take it ashore
with me, but could not succeed, and /
promise you that old Leo did not like at
all my attempting to interfere with his
pet. When we got to Java, we had to
take the lion out, and Leo had to lose his
pet. He could have killed that rat
thousand times, but he never did it.
There was another instance subse-
quent to this where Leo had pet rat,
which makes me believe that the lion has
a real fondness for the rodent. 1t was
in 1881 in Calcutta. We were playing at
the Madam, one of those gigantic places
in far India, and when went in to see
my pets one morning l saw that Leo had
found another rat for a pet. My FIVE
lions were all together, but this rat would
play only with Leo. There were many
other rats in the place, but the other
lions would not look at them. 1t seems
to me to be fact that the lions consider
these little animals too small to be touch
ed. l have known of rats being found
dead in lions cage, but believe that
they were simply killed by the lion roll
ing on them or stepping on them through
carelessness, but lions never eat them.
'In Hamburg once l knew case of a
sick tiger to whom it was deemed neces-
sary 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. One would naturally
suppose that the tiger would have killed
it instantly, but such, however, was not
the case. The tiger played with the rab-
bit for days before he would touch it.
He finally killed and ate it.
Now, my theory is this: A lion, or a
tiger, or in fact any wild animal kept
alone, grows very lonesome. In their
natural state wild beasts always run in
pairs. They love companionship, and
when put alone they become so lonesome
that when another animal, even though
it is a rabbit, is put in the same cage
with them, they refrain from killing it so
as to have its companionship. We have
heard of many instances of men being
alone-shipwrecked. if you like-making
strange friends. Why not lion? 1t al
ways made me feel rather bad to think
of this tiger in Hamburg killing his little
friend. Still even men at times turn on
their friends.
Now. there is another peculiar thing
about lions" added Professor Darling,
'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 refuse it. This is
a scientific fact. / have tried it many
times. l remember once having a swan
which had broken its wing. We killed
it, dressed it carefully 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 repeated
ly put pigeons alive into the cage, just
to see what they would do. l have
thrown grain down among the lions, and
the pigeons have actually got down and
hoped around the big brutes, even hop
ping on their backs, the lions making no
attempt to disturb them, even seeming
to enjoy their companionship.
Now, there is something strange
about this which is rather difficult toex-
plain. To my mind it argues that lion
is not brutal in his instincts. Savage he
undoubtedly is. Fierce at all times, but
fierce with Justice. / believe every one
of my lions has conscience. l know
every one of them knows the difference
between right and wrong. They know
their wondrous power and are charita-
bic. They would never attempt to in
6ure something which in no way could
do them harm. The study Of lion-his
habits, character and capabilities one
Of the most interesting know. 1t offers
D field as yet comparatively unknown,
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