The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1900-05-29
CAPTIVE WILD ANIMALS.
The Author OF "NViId Animals Have
Known" Accounts for Their
aestIesSness.


Ernest Seton-Thompson writes in
cidentally Of the restlessness OF cap
tive animals in the Century, as fol-
lows:
ut is common saying among keep
ers that, averaging one animal with
another, menagerie must be renewed
every three years. Yet / know OF one
manager who kept most OF his ami
mails. those Of Woodward's Gardens, San
Francisco, alive, healthy and happy
from the beginning of his time to the
end, 16 years later, when the estap-
lishment was broken up, and the ami
mails were ordered to be shot in their
cages. The great secret of his success
he tells me, was caring for their minds
as wen as for their bodies.
'Many a man shut up in cell has
saved his mind by inyenting some
trifing amusement. 1t is recorded
that one set daily watch on the move
ments Of spider Another tried how
many times he had to toss five pms
before they <ell in just the same way.
Another tried to run ten miles each
day in his narrow limits. Yet another
busted himself inventing new arrange
ments for the two or three articles OF
furniture in his cell. Many have paced
up and down each day for number OF
hours. And whatever they did, all
alike were seeking to put in time, TO
while away the awful tedium OF their
monotonous lives, to respond to the
natural craving for exercise, and to
save their minds and bodies from ac-
tually whitening from disuse.
ssTf instead of human captives' we
read wild animals in all this, we shall
have very fair portrait of what we
may see every day in an ordinary me-
nagerie. Why does the elephant swing
10 and fro forever from his chain pick
ct? Why does he gather from the
floor all the straw he can reach, throw
Il over his back and over the stable,
to be regathered later? Why does the
squirrel enter and work for hours the
aimless treadwheel, and the martenl
leap listlessly half day from point to
point-foor. perch, slat, box; floor,
perch. slat, box-again and again, with
Ioonotonous 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
new-found chum. or. if no ball is sup
plied. swing back and forth on pivotal
hind foot for hours each day? Why
does the rhinoceros keep on forever
nosing at some projection that his
horn can almost fasten under, till it
get more and more elusive through the
smoothing of perpetual 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
ths man prisoner. They are putting
in time. They are responding to the
natural craving for exercise. They
arr. trying 10 pass the tedium OF their
hopeless lives; they are doing any
thing. everything. their poor brains
can Suggest to while away the weary
drug OF duh. eventless days. Their
bellies are wen cared for, or at least
are always plentifuliy cared for. but
hssv few keepers have learned that IN
each animal Is mentality. large OF
small. that ought 10 be considered.