Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-10-24

fasslng ny an enormous aviarH. in
which futtered and screamed thou
sands of beautiful parrots, we camL ut
last to large tank in which were slow
ly padding round some spiteful look.
ing alligators. ''There," said Mr..
Hagenbeck, as he pointed to the cruel
looking beasts, 81 had ghastly ad-
venture with them once. I had to
pack sixteen of them up for the DusI
seldorf Geological Gardens. grappled
hold of the first one and was pulling
him ashore. when he gave q frighful
blow with his tail and knocked me into
the tank, where for a brief moment, 1
was alone with fifteen alligators.
Those who were standing by told me
that as soon as I splsshed in q number
of them made rush. However, was
out again like an India rubber
ball; but the whirl of the water and
the open jaws of the disappointed
beasts told me that I had not been one
second too smart. This was q very
p:rrow escape as il one of the croco-
diles had happened to get hold of me,
swapping and biting at me at one and
the same moment. until there would
have been nothing left of me at all.
"Alligators are the most determined
fighters even amongst themselves.
Six of them, each about fourteen feet
long, had a frighful fight amongst
themselves once, and SO desperately
did they fight that within fourteen
days they were all dead. Three of
them had their jaws broken, and in
some cases their legs were torn right
night, and one of the keepers, happen
ing to hear the frightful noise which
was made by the cl.shing of their jaws,
rushed off to tell me what was happen
ing. We lit our lanterns and hurried
TO the scene Of action, but beyond try
ing to separate them with long poles it
was little We could do. They would
only renew the fight with greater
fiereeness than ever, and SO terribly
were they wounded that, as 1 said,
they were all dead in . fortnight.
Now, when I get q new consignment
of alligators 1 always muzzle them for
four days with rope; they then calm
down and cut the rope off; other
wise, if did not do that they would
begin fighting as soon as they came
out of the box, for the first sight of
daylight after the long journey always
seem to excite them.
"a fight amongst the snakes, also, is
a terrible thing. I had once five big
pythons, each over sixteen feet long,
in one cage. One of the keepers flung
in a dead rabbit amongst them, and
two of them, being very hungry, at
tackled it at once. At the same mo-
ment the other four few at them and
in one moment all the six were in one
writhing lump. The keeper fetched
me and at once attempted to uncoil
them. 1 succeeded but hardly had I
done so, when the fight began between
his tail round the small ones neck and
squeezed it with such force against the
wall. that it lost all power, then the
bigger snake got hold of the rabbit
and swallowed it, after which it
gradually loosened its hold of the
smaller snake. Then came revenge /;
the small snake few at the big one,
which was rendered almost helpless by
its huge meal, bit it in the back,
coiled round and round it, and
squeezed it till it could hardly breathe,
although it screamed as I had never
heard any living creature scream be-
fore. When I went to see them next
morning they we're all right and per-
fectly good friends.
II Was once turned out of bed at l
o'clock in the morning by one of my
keepers, who came in with the news
that the big kangaroo had jumped .
six-foot fence into the next stable, in
which there was q large hippotamus.
When 1 came down there was Q most
wonderful fight going on. The kanga.
roo stood up to his belly in water.
whilst the hippopotamus. with wide.
open jaws, snapped at him right and
left. However, the kangaroo managed
to get in good right and left with
his front legs, and scratched the hip
popotamus in the face tremendously.
When the hipopotamus came to close
quarters, the kangaroo jumped up,
gave him q tremendous blow with his
hind legs, and thsn managed to get on
to dry land. I caught the kangaroo
with big net, and for all the fighting
there wasn't very much harm DONE"
just as Mr.. Hagenbeck finished talk
ing, the polar bear at our rear begun
growing. MIR. Hsgenbeck went up to
soothe and pet him. Then he said to
me: II expect I am pretty nearly the
only man in the world who can say
that he ever cut the nails of a
polar bear. 1t was this very beast,
and will tell you how it all happened.
The Door beasts nails had grown into
its foot, causing it q great deal of pain.
We tried to get the feet into sling
and pull them through the bars, but
this was very troublesome. So got
him into a narrow cage which had an
iron-barred front; this turned up
side down SO that the bear had to
stand on the bars Of the cage; then
the cage was lifted up about four feet
above the ground. went underneath
with sharp pair of pinchers, and as
he stood there with his toes pressed
through the bars I managed to pull
the nails out Then I stood him in
water to wash and cool his wounds,
and in few days he was all right
/ .'On another occasion q royal Ben
, xal tiger was suffering very much from
) :oothache, SO two of my men held him
bv the collar and whilst one of my at
.endants opened his mouth my brother
I in-law and I took some pinchers and
pulled ont the teeth which had been
giving him SO much pain, and which,
indeed, had grown so badly that they
had hindered him from biting his food
properly. -,
! 'However, perhaps the most terrible
adventure that I ever had occurred IN
Munich during the Centennial fete In