The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-01

aendish laughter. The surgeon, not a nractical wild animal man, beat right and left with his lantern, instlnctlvely doing the only proper thing for defense, until the brutes stood cowed and corner- ed Instead of backing toward the door, however. the captive lost his head, and had scarcely turned to make a break for iihertv when he went down with a yell, grabbed at an ankle and a calf by nair of hyenas Like flash the others were upon him. Into both arms hip a leg and two ankles, sank the sharp teeth, holding tight and tearing, while the tortured man cried for help. Night i,eeners. with Iron scrapers ran to the rescue and soon drove off the cowardly foe Much bruised and considerably torn. the victim picked himself up' while inc loping dancers mad laughter grated hard and shrill In the night.
 Ostrich Is Dangerous.
 Among the birds is at least one dan eerous wild captive whom few would nick as a formidable rogue. This is the ostrich-that huge grayish brown bird whose long, stout, fleet legs can outrun the fastest horse ever put on track and would put to blush the business end of a mule. Gazing at one of these great bodied, snake-necked. small headed, and big eyed creatures as he stands stupidly
  never suspect him of the tremendous ex- ecution of which he is capable. A single kick from an ostrlct is enough to fell a hyena, to knock over a full grown leop- ard or to break the leg of man as If 1t were pipestem.
 A serious attack by an angry ostrich happened a couple of years ago, when green keeper entered the cage of one of these birds at tn Glen Island menagerie and prodded him with fork. The os- trich, grabbed old bird. had turned re- peatedly on a former keeper and driven him from the stall. and it required little provocation to madden him to attack a stranger. While spreading straw, the man carelessly pricked the animal with a prong of the fork and like flash the great bird began to fight. He jumped high in the air and, on coming down, kicked out forward, ripping downward with frightful force, the long, sharp claws of his toes cutting through clothes and gashing the breast in two wide, par allel sashes, clean to the bones. Down went the man and with one of those lion-like roars which so often deceives the African desert traveller, the furious bird jumped in the air and brought his 2S0 pounds down upon him, kicking, send ing sledge hammer pecks from his long hard bill and using his weight to tram pie and jounce the life out of the pros- trate one. | Dder the Hefce cnarBe lie man was helpless as a child and was unconscious when rescued. Examination showed that if the claws had struck six inches lower, the victim would have been disemboweled.
 From time immemorlal the camel has been considered doeile beast; but there are instances when even this tall gawky hump backed. crooked -necked servant Of man has turned rogue. When the camel attacks, it is with teeth and feet The broad, fiat. dull grinders, intended by nature to masticate grass and grain, turn to frightful weapons when used as means of attack and defense, and yet the biting of an infuriated camel Is as nothing compared to the terrific eXecu- ton of which the beast Is capable with it's legs Like most wild animals of heavy weight the camel utilzes 1t so that a victim, once under its feet, rare ly escapes being tramped to a pulp. What happens to an enemy attacked by one of these creatures was shown in the Adam Forepaugh circus menagerie, when rogue camel trampled half grown 150 pound pet black bear who had escaped | from his cage.
 | Among a herd of twenty fine camels belonging to this show was "Bedouin," | a beautiful racing camel" fresh from Arabia, His back still showed half-heal- ed scars of saddle gals; he had been otherwise abused and, despite the de-