Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1898-07-13
GIRAFFE HAD A SORE THROAT.
1t Was Almost Eighteen Feet Loug
and Very Hard to Treat.

1t Was Almost Eighteen Feet Loug
and Very Hard to Treat.
Seems to me ! told you once" said
the old circus man to the Boston Her
aid reporter, "about the giraffe having
a sore throat? 1t is q serious matter
for any giraffe to have sore throat
bad for the giraffe and bad for the own
er. When you come to take an eighteen
foot giraffe like ours sore throat
meant large expense and large
amount Of trouble; and the big fellow
hadn't more'n got over this before
something else happened to him that
gave us even more trouble. He caught
cold and the cold settled in his throat
l suppose he was still sensitive there
and 1t gave him a stiff neck, 50 that he
couldn't bend his neck ut all.
you can't have any idea of what a
stiff neck means until you see giraffe
afflicted In that way; we'd had all sorts
of trouble with animals in one way or
another, but for real bother this beat
'em ALL We discovered it one day on
the road. The giraffe always ducked
his head under the branches that hung
down, sort of like swan or goose does
but this day, carrying his head right up
straight In the air, he brought up
against a branch that was at least fif-
teen feet above the ground. That was
such an amazing thing that we knew
something must be the matter. and
when the CRATES keeper came up and
spoke to him, and all he did was tc
bend his nose and look down, why, we
saw he couldn't bend his neck, ana
then we knew what was the matter.
well. of course, the first thing we
did was to set man to march along
side OF him with tent pole with a
crotch in the end of 1t to lift the branch
es for him. Most of the time|almost
all the time, in fact-we could steer
him clear of overhanging branches, and
of course lots of the way there was long
stretches where there wasn't any trees
at all, and then we'd come TO places
where the man would have to lift a
branch to let the big giraffe go under;
and a great pity it was, too, to see nm
compelled to 60 about in that manner.
HE went that way for about ten
DAYS. Ordinarily we used TO put his
feed for him on top of an animal cage
so that he wouldn't have to bend down
more than eight or ten feet, but he
couldn't do that now. So We SCI ring
in the center pole eighteen feet from
the ground and we L.:Hd TO reeve rope
through that and make one end fast TO
the bucket with his food or drink IN II
and hoist 1t up and let him eat there.
On the road we used to throw the rope
over the crotch of tree at suitable
height. For his entry into the great
tent at show time we had TO cut a great
slit in the canvas; but we didn't regret
that. because IL was n mighty impress
sive thing to see him march ID that
way. 1t made him look thirty-six feet
tall instead of eighteen.
Twice a day man used to go up
on ladder and put strap around his
head and we'd hook on fall with
bo'sun's chair. and man would ride
down his neck and rub in linime.t. he
used to like that Tery much, and 1t
helped him grea 'ly, too. and one morn
ing. when the men went out 10 give
him the usual rub they Were delighted
to see the old chap with his head
down pretty near TO the roof OF me
grizzly bear cage, which stood next 10
him. which showed that his neck was
coming around all right, and also indi-
Gated that he'd take his breakfast this
morning In the old way, IL you please"