The Iola register., 1901-08-09
TANNING A LION.
Task That Calls for Something
More Than Courage--The Trainer

a Task That Calls for Something
More Than Courage--The Trainer
Uses n Chair, But Not to Sit On.
Ihe wild-beast tanner as generally
pictured is mysterious person who
stalks about sternly in high boots
and possesses a remarkable power of
che eye that makes lions and tigers
quail at his look and shrink away.
He rules by fear, and the crack of
his whip is supposed to bring mem
ories of torturing points and red-hct
irons, says Cleveland Moffitt, in st.
Nicholas.
Such is the story-book hon-tamer,
and / may as well say at once that
outside of story-books he has small
existence. There is scarcely any truth
in this theory of hate for hate and
conquest by fear 1T is no more fear
that makes lion walk on a bali than
it is fear that makes horse pull
wagon. 1t is habit. The lion is per-
fectly willing to walk on the ball, and
he has reached that mind, not 10y
cruel treatment, but by force of his
trainers patience and kindness and
superior intelligence.
Of course, wild-beast tanner should
have a quick eye and delicate sense Of
hearing, so that he may be warned
| Of sudden spring at him or rush
from behind; and it is important thar
he be sober man, for alcohol breaks
| the nerve or gives false courage
worse than folly; but the quality on
which he must chiefly rely and which
alone car. make him great tanner
not a second-rate bungler-is a genu.
inc fondness for his animals. This
does not mean that the animals will
necessarily be fond of the tanner;
some will be fond of him, some will
be Indifferent to him. some will fear
and hate him. Nor will the trainers
| fondness protect him from fang and
claw We shall see that there is dam
! ger always, accident often, but with
out the fondness there would be great
er danger and more frequent accident.
A fondness for lions and tigers gives
! sympathy for them, sympathy gives
underS tanding of them, and UNDER
standing gives mastery of them, or a S
much mastery as is possible What
but this fondness would keep a tanner
constantly with his animals, not only
in the public show (the easiest parD
but in the dens, in the treacherous
runway, in the strange night hours,
in the early morning romp, when no
one is looking, when there is no rea-
son for being with them except the
tanners own joy in It?
| do not purpose now to present in
detail the methods of tanning wild
beasts, rather what happens after
they are tanned; but I may say that
n lion-tamer always begins by spend
ing weeks or months in gaining a
new animals confidence.
Day after day he will stand for a
long time outside the cage, merely
looking at the lion, talking to him, i'm
pressing upon the beast a general ia
miliarity with his voice and person.
And each time, as he goes away, he is
careful to toss a piece of meat as a
pleasant memento of his visit.
Later he ventures inside the bars,
carrying some simple weapon-a whip,
. rod. perhaps broom, which is more
formidable than might be supposed,
through the iab Of its sharp bristles.
One tanner used a common chair with
much success against unhroken lions.
If the creature came at him, there
were the four legs in his face; and
soon the chair came to represent
boundless power TO that ignorant lion.
He feared it and hated 1t, as was
seen on one occasion when the tanner
left it in the cage and the lion prompt
ly tore it into spinters
Days may pass before the lion will
let his tanner do more than merely
stay inside the cage at a distance
Very we'll; the tanner stays there. lie
waits hour after hour, week after
week, until n time comes when the
lion win let him move nearer, will
permit the touch of his hand. will
come forward for a piece Of meat
} and at last treat him like a friend
so that finally he may sit there quite
at ease, and even read his newspa-
per, as one man did.
: Lastly begins the practice of tricks;
J the lion must spring to a pedestal and
be fed; he must jump from one ped.
estal to another and be fed, must
keep a certain pose and he fed,
bit Of meat is always the final argu.
ment, and the tanner wins Cf he wins
at all, for sometimes he fails) by pa.
thence and kindness,
"There is no use "etting anPrv with
lion" said a well-known tanner Ia
me. "and there Is no use in carrying
n revolver, If you shoot a lion or in.
iure him with any weapon, II Is your
loss. for you must huv Smother Ton
Rt9 the chances are thai be viii III
yon anyway, II ho stor's 70 10 it, The
thing Is to keen him from starting"