The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-01

NCNGE A<oNSs
 Ready to Pounee When He KQows
 His Strength. .I
 ''one of the most noticeable features of the taste of the American public for amusements has been the increasing in- terest shown in recent years in the ex- hibitions of trained animals, especially Of animals by nature savage and fero- cious,'' observed man who had been in the show business for many years.
 Yet, despite the hundreds of exhibi- tions of this sort which have been giy- en, there is one point that the sight seeing public has entirely failed to com prehend. They think the lions, tigers, bears and other harp-toothed and long clawed creatures which perform so many difficult tricks with such appa- rent willingness, have been tanned. Not one has, or, in my opinion. ever will be. They have been trained, an entirely diff ferent proposition. This natural mis-
 take on the part of the spectators is not
 matter of much moment, But if an animal trainer should make the same mistake his career would be short.
 "A lion or tiger may be taught to do
 all sorts of tricks and apparently to
 yield ready obedience to his trainer, but
 underneath this superficial training is.
 the real, inherited wild beast nature.
 which sooner or later is almost certain to crop out.
 Animals, especially the larger and
 stronger ones, are not bright. A lion
 does not need to trouble himself about
 strategy in order to overcome his prey or to protect himself. His giant mus
 cles and wonderful agility settle those problems for him. For this reason the animal mind is better developed in weaker creatures, who cannot trust to their unaided physical qualifications to attain their prey or prevent themselves from being the prey of others.
 "To the lion, tiger or jaguar the train-l CT is a mysterious being. He knows
 that man is creature of strange and
 wonderful powers, and the unknown in-l
 spires a feeling of awe in him, exactly
 as it does in savage or half-ciyilized
 men. To this unknown power the lion yields obedience. but almost always grudging obedience.
 Combined with the feeling that man
 is a creature of mysterious powers goes
 an ignorance of the animals own strength. A tiger could crush his train- CTS skull with one blow of his paw, but the tiger does not appreciate this fact. | It is the lack of appreciation, not any affection for his trainer that makes
 the beast seem so apparently tractable and obedient @ < ..Once let a tiger or a lion appreciate that his trainer is helpless against him, and that animals value as a performer 1 is gone forever. He not only will not go through his accustomed tricks, but if any effort is made to force him. he is all most certain to turn on his trainer. Any man who expects to make a suc- cess of training wild animals must de- vote his whole time to studying the pe- culiarities of his individual charges. He thus gradually acquires an insight into their characters and dispositions which may enable him to tell the mo- ment when one of them has suddenly 1 awakened to a realization of his own strength.
 | But animals are cunning, and some times a trainer does not realize that this perception of their prowess has
 come to them until it is too late. Then there is another tragedy.
 l This ignorance of their physical lstrength, as compared with that of ! man, is one of the reasons why animals I captured in their native wilds are more igely to make good performers than those born in captivity. A lion born in
 civilization associates with men from the moment he opens his eyes as a fur ry, playful cub. Man is not the strange, l awe-inspiring creature to him that he
 is to the lion caught when half or fully grown. This feeling of familiarity tends to make the cage-born animal a bad subject for training.
 I There is another and even more inn portant reason why animals born in captivity are dangerous pupils. They are almost certain to realize their own strength and ability to take care of l themselves. A cub, for instance, is pet ted until it attains fair size. Then
 comes a day when, in trying to escape l from some one who is holding it, the young lion uses its claws. They are by
 this time sharp and long enough to in- f1ict unpleasant scratches. The cub finds himself free in an instant. And in
 that instant he has learned the first les son which tends to make him useless as | a trained animal-that he has claws and l teeth, and that the use of them will en- ! able him to escape from disagreeable surroundings. As he grows larger and stronger this lesson is more and more impressed on his mind. When he has attained his full strength the only place for him will be behind the bars of a strong cage. The instances of cage
 born animals of the cat tribe that have
 been successfully trained are few. l "One of the mistakes of the general I public which does not recognize that
 animals are trained, not tanned, is a be-
 lief that wild beasts in many cases have
 an affection for their keepers and train- I CTS. A lion will often purr and rub himself against the bars of his cage at | the approach of his trainer. This is be- f cause he has become accustomed to as-
 sociate the trainer with the good things of life. The trainer feeds him, he strokes the fur and rubs the back of the big cat, and does many other things which the animal likes. Therefore, the animal is glad to see him.
 ' s1,a 4l. |