New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-06-05
WILD ANIMAL FARMS.
Residents Object to Their Establish
ment for Fear of Danger.


very nature of things. There is the mosquito
first and foremost: the nightly sprint from the
ferry To seats in the suburban train and the
ever present necessity of defending their CHOSEN
places of residence against the attacks OF the
Manhattanites- But there Is something elae
that will bring them to arms much more raDioiS
than any of these righteous causes
Let 4 wild animal farm try to attach ITSELF
to the outskirts of New-Jersey settieiheiie anu
one will see the Jerseyman at his lighting pest
The mere mention of the possibility OF the COM
| ing of an animal farm sends every father III
the town-and practically all of the men over
.wentv-fva are fathers-into a rage Amman
farm, indeed, They'll have to establish IL over
his dead body if it comes. Is he going 10 SIT
idly by while a bowling. growing per'iiihe-
menagerie with it's children eating animals se'S
Itself down near his home? Try TO start d
farm and see.
care YOU afraid of any of your wild beasts!
a Tribune reporter asked the proprietor Oh d
farm not far from pretty Newark sunuro'
afraid of the animals? Well. rather not
he replied II faced the angry fathers oil 'ilis
little town when I began work on my stockade-
T r,cad Their, and live to tell about it. After
that L am afraid of nothing.
There are several logical reasons for the eX-
istence of wild animal farms. but perhaps 'he
chief one is storage. Animals are ofteh shlppeu
to New York speculation They nave to De
kept somewhere until a buyer appears IheS
cannot be slowed away in a dingy WarehOuSe'
like bales of silk or bags of coffee Conse-
quentIy they are driven into travelling cages
and wheeled into those senIi-wids or Jersey
which can he found not far from the steamship
docks.
Then animals have to be "seasoned before
it is safe TO bill them on the posters Oh i
travelling show or give them a permanent cage
in a zoolosicaI park They must have time 70
get accustomed to cage life and TO reee''Ais
the admiIing attention of visitors
A certain part Of each farm is given over 70
the boarding department vaudeville ar
tiste"-.the lady OF the liOns.' for instance
finds herself with two or three weeks unlocked
Hotels that draw The line at cats and lap dogs
can hardly be expected to admit a cage OF
lions and it is impossible 10 sneak IN hons anu
hide them under the bed. There IS nothing ior
il but 10 send them off to the animal tarn anu
paw board Trained monkeys. dog troupeS anu
performing bears fill the majority OF the tables
at the wild beast boarding house They can
give the West Twenty-third-st- type-easiiy the
most advanced of human boarders-poihterS III
growing at the food
| 4, HIGH stockade of thick plankins is the
most certain sign of an animal farm III one Is
I in doubt there is q series OF srowis iroih 'he
lion house OF trurnpetins from the elephant pen
| to make one sure. Sometimes the long neck oi
= giraffe rises above the stOckade as a sign
The door TO the stOckade is always iocAeu'
and one must have business within. business
which he can explain before it is opened Every
newcomer calls forth an angry chorus of pro-
test the biting of bars. Juggling of chains and
the like 1t is not exactly welcome.
One is struck by the absence OF signs DO
not approach the cages" These animals
must not be fed" "Danger-Beware" and the
like are utterly wanting. The small portion or
the public that gets within the stockade does
so at its OWE risk
There has never been an outbreak from one
of the farms in the vicinity of New-York. and
the men in charge deserve some credit for the
care and precautions which they take
These cages may look hmsy." explained one
of the most successful of those in the business.
as he was showing a Tribune reporter through
the shack he called the lion house. but it ia
because they are not polished up. In reality
they are just strong as the cages in Central
Park or in the New-York Geological Garden
The stockade is added precautiOn. but it is
more to keep people out than to keep the ami
mails in. We have watChmen on guard night
and day and in case of fire they ready to
shoot down the animals rather than let them
escape