St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-05-16
Wild Animals in Captivity.

1t is a common saying among keepers
that, averaging one animal with another,
menagerie must be renewed every three
years. Yet | know of one manager who
kept most of his animals. those of Wood
wards gardens, San Francisco, alive,
healthy and happy from the beginning OF
his time to the end, 16 years later, when
the establishment was broken up, and
the animals were ordered to be shot IN
their cages. The great secret of his sue
cess, he tells me, was caring for their
minds as well as their bodies.
Many man shut up in a cell has saved
his mind by inventing some trif1ing a.
musement. 1t is recorded that one set
daily watch on the movements of spider.
Another tried how many times he had to
toss five pins before they fell in just the
same way. Another tried to run 10
miles each day in his narrow limits.
Yet another busted himself inventing new
arrangements for the two or three articles
OF furniture in his cell. Many have paced
up and down each day for a number OF
hours. And, whatever they did, all alike
were seeking to put in time to while
away the awful tedium of their monoto-
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craving for exercise, and to save their
minds and bodies from actually whitening
from disease.
Ifinstead of "human captives" we read
wild animals" in all this, we shall have
a very fair portrait of what we may see
every day in an ordinary menagerie.
Why does the elephant swing to and fro
forever from his chain picket? Why does
he gather from the floor all the straw he
can reach, throw it over his back and
over the stable, to be regathered later
Why does the squirrel enter and work
for hours the aimless tread-wheel, and
the marten leap listlessly half day from
point to point-hoor, perch, slat, box;
floor, perch, Stat, box again and again.
with monotonous sameness day after
day? Why does the lone ostrich waltz
far more than does his wild kinsman
that has many admiring spectators of
his own kind, and why do the fox and
the wolverine trot miles and miles of
cage front every day Why does the bear
roll and tumble for hours over the same
old wooden ball as if it were a new
found chum, or if no ball is supplied
swing back and forth on pivotal hind
foot for hours each day? Why does the
rhinocerous keep on forever nosing at
some projection that his horn can almost
fasten under, till it gets more and more
elusive through the smoothing of perpet-
ual use? Why do wolves and monkeys
put in hours and hours over humble
| duties that in their wild state were the
work of few minutes at most? To all,
the answer is the same as to the similar
query about the man prisoner. They are
putting in time. They are responding to
the natural craving for exercise. They
are trying to pass the tedium OF their
hopeless lives; they are doing anything,
everything, their poor brainsc suggest
to while away the weary drag of dull,
eventless days. Their bellies are we'll
cared for, at least are always plentiiuly
cared for, but how few keepers have
learned that in each animal is a mental
ity, large or small, that ought to be con-
sidered.- Ernest Seton Thompson in
the Cent fury.