Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-09-09
TRAINING BIG ELEPHANTS.
CRUEL PUNISHMENT FORMERLY
INFLICTED ON ANIMALS.
How the Mammoth Brutes Arc
Taught to Stand on Their Heads
Their Remarkable Memory.

i | he mOSU Q1HCulU IrlCk III eieS
phant is called upon to do in
the circus ring is to stand on
his head. When the trainer
has an elephant to break to this feat
he begins by claiming the animals
front legs to strong stakes, and then
| fastens other chains to the hind legs
below the knees, the ends OF the chains
being connected with block and
tackle attached Mt the top of the
building. When all is ready, q num-
ber of men on n pair OF horses are set
to work hauling on the tackle, and the
elephants huge hindquarters are liter.
| ally hoisted into the air until the force
of gravitation and the restraining
power of the front chains bring him
into the required position. OF course
the animal when treated thus for the
first time is thrown into intense rage
and fear. He ,trumpets fercely,
thrashipg the ground with his trunk
and straining at the chains. Some
times the chains are broken in the vi
olence of the struggle, but more often
the stakes are pulled out of the
ground.
Fifteen minutes at time is as much
| OF this severe exercise as it is consid-
cred safe to put upon an elephant
| He is released and has two or three
hours to recover himself. Then the
chains are made fast again, the hind
legs once more lifted into the air and
the elephant brought back into the
position required. Four or five times
q day this operation is gone through
with, and every time the same strug-
| giles and resistance are encountered.
Once entered upon, tho task is never
abandoned until the elephant has
learned the lesson. although six CT
| seven weeks are usual ly necessary to
success. by degrees the elephant be-
comes accustomed to standing on his
head and allows the chains to do their
work more willingly. At last comes
the day when the keeper can mako
him roll forward and lift his hind
| quarters into the air merely ut n WORT
of command and perhaps with prod
of the elephant hook.
The remarkable memory possessed
by elephants shows itself i'll the per-
sistence with which they stick to
certain order in tho tricks they do,
once these have been thoroughly
learned. For instance, ii the trainer
should give wrong command to his
elephants while they are performing
in the ring the chances are that they
would disobey him and execute tho
order which should have been given.
If, for example, he told them to march
when ordinarily he would have told
them to waltz they would go ahead
and waltz, refusing to do the march
except in the usual order.
"We used to think" said an ee-
phant trainer, "that the only way to
deal with bad elephant was to tor
ture him until he squealed, which
meant surrender. And am sorry to
say that many good elephants have on
this principle been tortured to their
death because their keepers knew no
better. Fully half the elephants that
are taken with these bursts of frenzy
will endure any suffering that can be
put upon them rather than show the
white feather. They will let you drive
hooks and spears into them until they
are covered with blood; they will let
| you burn them all over with red.hot
irons; they will let you beat them,
shoot them, do anything to them, but
they will not give up; you can't make
them squeal. And if you persist in
this kind of torture you will simply
end by killing the elephant. It's au
u,F, 81 Ia ,,gn1 t.,
torture elephants to their death; it
makes me shudder TO think of it.
81 have found out a way of bringing
fierce elephants to their senses with
out pushing things too far. L never
found it to fail. | chain them down,
but don't use hot irons or spears or
axes, only clubs. l get two gangs OF
twelve men each, and keep them club
bing for q couple of hours. In one
case 1 had one gang club until they
were tired out, and then let the other
gang lay on, and SO on. The elephant
never squealed while they we're club
bing him, he was too game for that;
his rage was up and he would have let
them torture him to death without
showing the white feather. But that
wasn't my idea; l didn't want to make
him squeal that day. So after the
men had dubbed him for two hours
loosened the chains and let him get
up, but kept the chains on the fc1e.
legs. The next day his body was so
sore from tho clubbing that the
slightest touch caused intense pain.
After he had been left alone for twen-
ty-four hours his rage was calmed
little; and when we chained him down
the next day and the men began club
bing him again he squealed within five
minutes; he couldn't stand any more
clubbing on that sore hide OF his. The
result was we had his spirit broken
without doing him any great harm.
Now there isn't more obedient ele.
+ phaut in the whole herd. New YORK
Sun.