El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-05-06
BREEDING WILD ANIMALS AT HOME
IL VIII Not be Necessary After This to Send
to Africa for Menagerie Stock.

| Africa Tor NlenaSer1e STOCK.
The difficulty which show men ex
perience in getting wild animals, and
the prevailing high prices. has induced
five Chicago business men to organize
company for the purpose of breeding
rare animals in the Everglades OF Flo
rida, says an exchange. Beasts of al
| kinds sui able for circus menageries and
| ''zoos,'' cost 60 per cent more than they
did Is years ago, and it is simply i'm
possible t. get certain varieties even
when no unit order is given. A few
years ago ST. 800 would purchase a very
fine giraffe. but So 900 and as high as
So 900 has been offered during the past
season without securing the desired
| animal.
| In soathern Florida, north of Lake
Okechobee and lying between the ST.
| Johns and Kissimee riI ers, is wild and
wide expanse of swamp and Jungle
known as the Everglades where the
| condit iOns are especially favorable to
all kinds of undomesticated animal
life.
1t is the natural home of the veno-
nous reptiles like the moccasin and
rattlesnake. In climate and surround
ings it closely resem bles the foreign
regions from which the most valuable
wild animals are secured. Few white
men have ever penetrated the dense
forests where for years the Seminole
Indians held out against the efforts of
the government to dislodge them, and
to all practical purposes the country is
the same today as it was when Ponce
de Leon explored it in his hu Mt for the
fountain of perpetual youth. 1t is in
this part of Florida that the company
mentioned above is to establish its
elephants, tapirs, hippopotamii and
similar forms of mammalia will be col
onized and left to live out their lives
uumolested so long as they behave
themselves.
Under the natural conditions of a |
large liberty in warm country, freed |
from the irksome restraint of cages and |
the close personal supervision Of keep |
ers, it is expected the animals will |
flourish and increase rapidly. If the |
hopes of the owners in this respect are |
realized the trade with Ham burg will |
be cut off and there will be a home sup
ply of wild animals easy to obtain and |
cheap of price. Instead of sending eX-
pensive expeditions to Asia or Africa,
the man who wants a few lions or ele
plants will merely have to wire his
filed.
Jon Lavake. the only white man in
that part of Florida who had title to
like a tract of decently high, |
sandy land, has sold his holdings to the
new company. The deed transfers 200
acres adjoining a branch of the ST.
Louis river and commanding access to
a limitless range otswamp and Jungle.
On the Lavake tract men are now at
work erecting homes for the superin-
tendent and his assistants and barns
for his horses, COWS and other domes-
tic animals which may be required. |
This done, a chunk of about 1000 acres
Of the best of the forest and swamp is
to be inclosed with strong fence built
of young trees This fence will be y |
feet high, and from the top a heavy
iron grating will project inward to
prevent the wild animals of the cat
species from climbing over it.
William H. Winner, a handler of
wild animals known all over tbs world
by reason of his long connection with
circuses and his many exciting advent
lres, will be the superintendent of the
farm.