The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-28
From the Jungle to the Zoo
How the Beasts of the Forest Are Shared and
Captured for Exhibition Purposes.
BY HENRY j. WALTERS.

both. When the net is drawn. the
mother is practically certain to kill
the cubs in her mad struggles. If
the cubs are wanted, the mother must
be shot before they are netted. This
rule applies to all feline animals.
Use of anasthetics.
Anaesthetics are almost always used
in the case of fully grown animals aft
er they have been taken in the net,
in order that they may be released
from it and transferred to the ship
ping cage in which they are to be
taken to their destination. Some
sometimes ether Needless to say,
the saturated sponge is put on the end
of a. stick before it is held to the en-
ragged animals face.
Not infrequently the denizens of
the jungle are caught asleep by expert
native crackers employed by the hunt
ers. Then they are chloroformed
and they wake up to find themselves
in cage. A lioness and her cubs
which now form one of the star at
fractions of a big American zoo, were
taken in this manner.
Elephants are captured by stamped
ing wild herd and driving it through
the jungle into a strong stockade
built by the natives. After they have
UteIi lGIl there lOT SOIue llfIleb until
their rage cools down, they are
brought out, one by one, between two
tame elephants; and, as a rule, speed
lily become docile.
Snakes are noosed by strong silk
lariat, usually after being smoked out
of their holes. In their rage they
wrap their coils around and around
the lariat until they become hope
lessly tangled. They are then easily
ir1aVa vic IN H1nn i
ether or gas is administered to them
so that the lariat may be removed
without danger.
Natives Capture Monkeys.
Small monkeys are seldom captured
by the agents sent out to the jungle by
the wild beast dealer. They are pur-
chased from the natives, as are also
many small animals and birds.
The native children place scores of
gourds about the forest half filled with
a mixture of tFeacle and gum, or
sticky substances much like those. The
greedy monkeys come to feast and get
stuck to the heavy gOurds, so that the
watching natives can easily capture
them. They are commonly taken in
this way ON the west coast of Africa
and in South America. In the latter
country they are sometimes caught by
the lasso.
The big orang- outangs and Chin
panzees are seldom taken fully grown;
when they are, it is by means of a
lariat. The mother is usually shot, and
her young cubs captured by climbing
up tree after them. They are dazed
by the mothers death, and readily re-
spond to the friendly advances of the
treacherous hunter who approaches
them. banana in hand.
Monkeys are among the easiest of
wild animals to get. but quite the most
difficult to transport alive to "a zoo. A
man experienced i'm the business esti-
mates that pretty nearly 95 per cent
of them die on the journey, as against
so per cent. of wild animals generaIlv
They are absolutely untitled for cap
tiVitY. Even after they have been
safely brought to a ZOO they generally
die in two or three years of tuberculo-
sis, pneumonia or some bronchial trou-
BILE.
The Gorilla n Great Prize.
The wild beast hunter i'm tropical
Africa, both white and native, is al
ways on the lookout for a gorilla-at
present the greatest prize that could
he captured There Is none i'm captiv-
ity. There was one in the London Zoo.
but IL died in 1894 and its stuffed BODY
is now in the British Natural History
Museum. II only lived a few weeks in
captivity.
Gorlllas are rarely seen, even by the
natives, and man might roam
through their habitation for six months
without setting eyes on one. They in
habit the deepest recesses OF the Afri-
can jungles. and when they are dis
covered II Is almost impossible TO can
ture them. They cannot be Melted
like lions or tigers. for they spring
from tree 10 tree and are seldom seen
on the ground even for n momen.
while their terrible ferocty immense
strength and wonderful agility give
them a hundred 10 ono chance against
the hunter So many lives have been
lost az various times In trying 10 can
ture them that Il Is said the wild beast
dealers give standing Instructions 10
their men never 10 trouble them again.
Bears of all species are usually
caught by means ~ an open barrel.
through which a ring Of nails are
driven near the top, with the point
flantlng downward The food IN which
me bear D f0ndeHt- honey FOR some
species, lfh f0r q Polar henr-ia plac-
"a an The bottom 81 the barrel a. a bait
Inar nruin rufa hlH had Ia. ana fha