Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-07-21

LIONS HAVE THEIR PETS.
An Animal Trainer Tells Of Rats In q Cage
With the King of Beasts.

~ ~ hfu VI
An animal trainer who was exhibiting
bis cage OF lions in New York recently,
in talking with a writer for the Tribune
said: Il never saw a lion kill a rat or a
mouse, and l have had many of the lit
tie animals put in the cage with my five
lions. My attention was first drawn TO
this when / was on my way from Lon
don to Batavia, in Java, IN the ship
Rotundo. / had my five lions with me,
aud one day / saw Leo, my favorite
lion, lying down and holding between
his paws very loosely a monster ship
rat. thought perhaps that the cat in
stinct in the lion had made him catchit,
and that he would probably play with it
awhile, then eat it, and so / watched.
Imagine, however, my surprise when l
saw him loosen the rat, and the rat
make no attempt TO get away. but run
up and over his gigantic paws aud play
with him. We were a long time max
ing the trip, and every day this ships
rat went into Leo's cage. and the two
played together as gently as two chill
dren. i made several attempts TO
capture the rat, hoping that perhaps l
might take it ashore with me, but |
could not succeed, and old Leo did not
like at all my attempting 10 interfere
with his pet.
There was another instance subse-
quent to this where Leo had a pet rat,
which makes me believe that the lion
has a real fondness for the rodent. Ii
was In 1881 in Calcutta. We were play
ing at the Maiden, and when / went in
10 see my pets n morning / saw that
Leo had found another rat for a pet.
Nv 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.
In Hamburg | once knew a case of a
sick tiger 10 whom it was deemed
necessary TO give some fresh, warm
blood to tone up his system. and TO
further this end a live rabbit was put in
the cage with the tiger. The tiger
played with the rabbit for days before
he would touch il. He finally killed and
ate il.
Now, there is another peculiar thing
about lions, and that is that they will
not eat the flesh of a fowl. You might
tempt them with a canvasback duck or
the daintiest SQUAD. but they would re-
fuse it. This is a scientific fact. / have
tried it many times. / remember once
having n swan which had broken its
wing. We killed II. dressed il carefully
and threw il into the cage Of the lions.
but they would not touch it, and il final
" had 10 be taken out and thrown
away. have repeatedly put pigeons
alive into the cage, just to see what they
would do. ] have thrown grain down
among the lions, and the pigeons have
actually got down and hoped around
the big brutes. eve hopping on their
backs, the lions making no attempt to
disturb them. ever seeming to enjoy their
companionship.
Now. there is something strange
about this which is rather difficult TO ex-
plain. To my mind. it argues that q
lion is not brutal in his instincts. Saw
age, he undoubtedly is. Fierce at all
times, but fierce with justice. i believe
every one of my lions has a conscience;
| know every one OF them knows the
difference between right and wrong;
they know their wondrous power and
are charitable. They would never at
tempt to injure something which in no
way could do them harm. The study
of a lion, his habits, character and
capabilities, is one of the most interest
ing | know. II offers a field as yet
comparatively unknown, but the more
one goes into ii, the more time one takes
10 find out just what a lion is. the more
he is convinced that he has rightly been
named the king of beasts