The evening times., 1900-05-05
CAPTIVE WILD ANIMALS.
Like Other Prisoners. They Must Re
Interested or They VIII Die.

ernest Seton-Thompson. in The Century,
IL 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, ana happy from the beginning OF
his time TO the end, sixteen years later,
when the establishment was broken up.
and the animals were ordered To be shot
in their cages The great secret of his
success. he tells me, was caring for their
minds as well for their bodies
Many man shut up in cell has saved
his mind by inventing some trifiing amuse-
mSnt- IL is recorded that one set a daily
watch on the movement OF spider An
other tried how many times he had TO toss
five pins before they fell in just the same
way. Another tried TO run ten miles each
day in his narrow limits. Yet another
busIed himself inventing new arrange
ments for the two or three articles of fur
nitu:-e 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 te-
dunn of their monotonous lives. to respond
10 the natural craving for exercise. and to
save their minds and bodies from actually
withering from disuse.
H. lnoAtdN VI uuL1du NdDllAtS- we TtaQ
wild animals" in all this We shall have
a very fair portrait OF what We NAV see
every day in an ordinary menagerie Why
does the elephant swing 10 and fro for
ever from his chain picket? Why does Re
gather from the floor all the straw he
can reach. throw il over his back ard over
the stable TO be regathered Iater2 Why
does the squirrel enter and work for houI s
the aimiess treadwheel, and the marten
leap listlessly half a day from p-int 10
pOint-fOoT. perch. slat. box: floor perch
slat, bOX-again and again. with monoton-
Gus sameness day after day. Why d1es
the lone ostrich waltz far more than do s
his wild kinsman that has many adpiring
spectators of his own kind. and why do
the fox and the wolverine trot miles and
miles of cage front each day? Why dos
the bear roll and tumble for hours over
the sailS old wooden ball as il il were
a neT-found ehum, or, if no ball is suU-
piled, swing back and forth On, pivotal
hind foot for hours each day? Why dot s
the Thinoceros keep on forever nosing at
some projection that his horn can almost
fasten under. till it get more and more l.
lusive through the smoothing OF perpetual
use? Why Go wolves aRd monkeys put in
hours and hours over humble duties that
in their wild state were the work Of 4
few minutes al 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 20
pass the tedium Of their hopeless lives.
they are doing anything everything their
poor brains can suggest to while away
the weary drag Of dun; eyentIess days-
Their bellies are weH cared for. or at
least are always plentifuily cared fer. but
how few keepers have learned that in each
animal is mentality, large or small. that
ought to be considered.