The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-05-04
MOVING THE TIGER.
An Incident q shifting the Royal Bengal
From One Cage To Another.

melldgefle III nAtu iO'a'iVh' ""Ni0 w
I had been for some time, The cages To-
tbe animals were ranged along on |
platform around big foored space fol
spectators The show was III building
made for IL.
I'VE had a very good collection Of
animals. including full grown roya
Bengal tiger The tiger cage had got
rather old, and we set out 10 shift the
tiger into new one We had the new
cage all ready. and one afternoon after
the show was over and the people had
all gone we brought it IN and moved u
mp in front of the old cage standing ON
the platform and blocked il up so that
nc was on the same level with the 9th
er. and then moved the two cages up
close together face 10 face The cage
doors didn't swing They slid up
through an opening III the roof OF the
cage and what we Were going 10 do
was TO raise these doors when we got
the cages close together and drive the
tiger from one cage to the other and
then shove down the door of the new
cage and put that on the platform.
"Well, we got the cages up close to-
gether and doors opposite, and man
on the roof of each cage raised the door
of that cage, and then we began TO prod
the tiger TO make him go through the
opening into the other cage. He started
for it and put his paw across the mar
row space between the two cages, but
instead Of putting it over inside the
doorway of the other cage he put it
against the first bar on the side of the
door and pushed on it, and pushed the
cage away little bit. That was bad.
We ought to have made the cages fast
together, but we hadn't We tried TO
start him along little faster, but in
stead of going through into the other
cage he kept pushing on that bar and
pushing the other cage away.
''All this time he was getting little
bit farther out of the old cage, but not
into the new one The man OH top of
the old cage tried to shut that door
down then, so as to pin the tiger in it
and hold him till we could drive him
back, but the door jammed when he
first tried il, and he couldn't bulge it,
and all the time the tiger was pushing
the new cage little bit farther away
and getting farther out himself The
man on top of the new cage was still
holding his door open, hoping that the
tiger would step across into the new
cage yet, and then he would drop il
down and hold him, but the tiger kept
pushing the cage away till there was
easy room, and then he just dropped
down on TO the floor and walked round
the end of the new cage out into the
arena
Look Outr says the man on top Of
the cage and we did, and left the tiger
boss of the show, while we made ar
rangements to recapture him, and the
tiger started i'll to take look around
on his own account. There wasn't any
body to get in his way. He had the
whole place all to himself, and he
waved his tail and glared around and
started, and kept going till he came to
the monkey cage. That seemed to in
terest him more than anything else, and
he made his first stop there and stood
waving his tail and glaring at the mon
keys. He scared the little monks almost
to death, just standing there looking at
them, and they III he'd over to the back
of the cage and fiattened themselves
against IT, trying to get away as far as
they could
When the tiger pushed his cage
away, ms paw was against bar on one
side of the door, nearer one end of the
cage than the other, and so il was that
end of the cage that he pushed out the
other end stayed in by the old cage; il
made kind of V shaped opening be-
tween the cages, and the tiger had
jumped down into that and gone around
the end of the cage that was pushed ont.
TlHs V shaped space made "A kind of
shelter, too, when the tiger was around
on the other side, as he was when he
was looking into the monkey cage, and
one of the keepers hurried in with about
"A quarter of beef and threw il into the
old cage and pushed it over as far as he
could into one corner.
The tiger smelled the meat. sup
pose he had been thinking about how
he would like the monks. He could
have eaten about one at mouthful,
and there were just about enough in
that cage TO make Il square meal for
him, but the bars were in the way, and
he knew what the smell of the beef
meant, and he turned away and made
for his own cage again, walked across
the open space, waving his tail, and
walked around the end of the pushed
out cage into the little triangular space
and jumped up into the old cage and
made for the meat in the corner, and
man jumped upon the roof and jammed
down the gate.
We'll, you see, there didn't anything
very desperate happen after all. Still,
1t was about as much tiger as we want.
ed for one day. New York sun.