The San Francisco call., 1906-09-23

-.r-powerful creatures with their i'll
hitting. baggy hides and ridieulously
inconspicuous tails, bitten on, most 0q
them, to half their natural lengths but
I was afraid / had made too long a
call already. so 1 went over 10 see the|
sealions and the seals
1 saw the baby leopard seal first OF
all. He was in his own special crate|
taking sun bath, quiet and docile as
you please. The flies were botherin Il
MIN Numerically, and I wanted tc|
'shoo" them off, but / was warned
hurriedly. for even young seals bite|
and bite savagely, and 1 might have|
had hurt hand to nurse.
Baby Seal Makes Good Clown|
Bongie is a beautiful little seal with
pleading. brown eyes and spotted ii
the proper fashion Of leopard seals|
Being only seal with very sh0r|
flippers in front. Bongie will never 81
capable of performing the feats of sea
lions, but he will be trained TO do tn |
stunts of a clown
The first thing To do in training
a seal is to gain his entire confldenceI
That can be done by kindness alOn
and sometimes takes four or fiv
months When he learns that you ar
his friend he ceases to try to bite an
willingly becomes obedient to you
demands Then. and then only. is
possible to educate him for the ring
-BOngie will be taught TO beat tn
drums and manipulate the percussio
instruments of the band. He Will rim
bells and chime in obtrusively at th
wrong time. TO everybody's amuse
ment And. having done his worst an
his best. having smoked his cigar wit
the sangfroid of born dandy. he wi
applaud himself with all the force
his clippers on the sides of his bo,
and this is warranted to bring dow
the house. Thus will Bongie pay fo
his keep and compensate himself q
the loss of the freedom of the VII
life to which he was born in th
northern waters"
Don't Like Examinations.
Mr.. Petit climbed into the cage
show me the formation Of the res
fippers of a sea lion
Come up here Daisy, he calle
Daisy elumsily pulled herself up OF
of the water on&O the platform at Il
end and stretched her head up TO h
trainer for caress. which she II
ceived. But like a dog with a brulse
hind leg. she stubbornly resisted
eoaxing and refused to let Mr.. Pett
draw out a Upper for my inspectio
Here, Cap. A beautiful fawn-co
ored sea lion came up. and the san
results followed. He was dismisss
with reprimand.
Babe Up came Babe. affectiona
creature, and cuddled. actually cul
died. up beside her kind master. Goo
girl. Steady, girl. She submitted
last. although she cringed at the touc
1T is almost impossible. as YOU see
explained Mr. Petit, ITO induce the
TO raise their hind hippers from q
floor. 1 suppose they feel that tn
are losing the natural support Of the
bodies"
rs 1t difficult 70 teach them I
juggling with the large and sms
balls and the caps?s I asked.
No. they are very easily Al
speedily taught. They seem TO IA
a natural. understandings the ba
aneing feat. Their bodies are excee
ingly sinu0us. OF course there is gre
patience required in their training. b
not more than in the case of 9th
animals And when the first steps Ia
been taken the rest is comparative
easy We hold the bail up TO thd
at first and let them become peFfect
acquainted with il before cndeav0ri
TO teach them to poise IL At the poi
OF the nose. which. you will notice.
very sharp. making the feat dill
cult one
II shQSld say that they are the mi
a1ectionate Of all trained wild Al
mails but perhaps 1 am prejudice,
and Mr.. oettit looked back fondLy
his charges