The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-08-24
TRAINED BY CRUELTY
Animals, as Rule, Taught Tricks
Through Torture.
KINDNESS is NOT A FACTOR
The Result of the Methods Employed,
Says sn English Writer, Is the Tri-
umph of Brute Over Brute by
Patient and Persistent Cruelty.


81 have an old fashioned belief that
one should never make a damninc
statement unless he is prepared &c
prove il up to the hilt. And so am
confronted at the outset with an al.
most insurmountable difficulty-to the
layman who would accurately inform
himself OF the methods of animal train.
ing there is opposed bulwark of con
cealment grim and silent as the great
wall of China" writes w. Rainton
Clarke in the Manchester Chronicle.
THE glib assurance that 1T is all
done by kindness has become by
word. No true lover OF an animal be
lieves il, nor could any reasoning crea.
ture. lacking that particular affection.
If he will carefully examine such facts
as are obvious.
Granted there are animals OF ex.
treme intelligence and ductability.
Granted there are men and women OF
extraordinary influence over birds and
beasts The best these twain can
achieve in combination does not pro
duce an effective stage show, nor can
onc-hundredth part of the entertain.
ment' provided by the trainer be
ascribed to his abnormal ability or to
the especially acute intelligence of his
pupil. 1t is more probably the tri-
umph of brute over a brute by pa
tent and persistent cruelty.
1.-THE public judges by what ii sees
on the stage and remarks in admira.
ton and approval that there was no
sign of whip An animal exhibitor
who was avowedly cruel would be
pretty low down in the ranks OF show
men. / own particularly ferocious
looking bulldog who goes crazy with
delight at the sight OF a whip. 1t has
been his pet toy for years and means
the beginning of q romp. On the other
hand, a movement of the trainers nm.
ger almost imperceptible TO the audi.
dence may suggest to the powerful
Imagination of the animal fiendish tor
ture. 1t may recall the hot irons, the
agonizing Utilization of a nerve.
"Such appeals to the memory are. In
truth, the stock in trade OF the animal
trainer. What the wretched creature
has gone through during months of
daily preparation can never be known,
for the work is carried out in secrecy
and seclusion. There is rarely a second
person present and the brute cannot
speak. That is the most hideous factor
Of the case.
There is no concealment of the fact
that the training is apt to be hard and
painful, and blow is not uncommon
from the most humane and patient
trainer, angered, it may be, by stupid
ty and INSTRUMENTATION. If 1t is so
with the boy, what must 1t be with
the brute?
There is no possession so hideous
as that of the triumph, even momen
tarly, of cruelty. Touch a child, a
horse or dog with whip and there
Is n hideous sense of satisfaction. even
when the cause is righteous. The joy
of iniicting pain is possible to the best
of us and grows by what it feeds on.
Imagine the situation between a
coarse vulgarian and a helpless brute
and you get the process of animal
training.
Il have never known disinterested
member OF the circus community pre-
tend that the education of any animal
was pleasant to the animal, and have
known them to speak with horror OF
the methods of some trainers.
ut is not very long since an athlete
snatched the whip from a well known
dog trainer on the stage of a London
variety theater and soundly thrashed
him amid the plaudits of the company.
Another distinguished professor is
blacklisted by one of the largest syn
dicates for undisguised cruelty ton the
stage to his large and various family.
Two of our best known managers alb
solutely refuse to deal with animal
turns and make no concealment of
their reasons. And the editor now de-
ceased, of an important professional
paper, for years refused to attend any
place of entertainment where dogs or
birds, or indeed any dumb creature
save conventional circus horses, APP
peared.
"All these men knew what they were
about Most of the other performers
in a music hall fight keep shy of the
animal trainers. The stage hands speak
with horror Of what they see.
THE mortality among performing
animals is perfectly awful. Ever so
many are hopelessly injured In the
process of education. and ever SO many
succumb to the dreadful life of nightly
performances.
Whenever a case Of cruelty by a
performer comes before the courts one
is amazed by the ineptitude and fulfil
ity Of the evidence.
The public is OF course the main
culpTit 1t wants the shows and man
ayers provide them, though they must
be conscious of the truth of all / haC
written. They even assist in the I'M
for the stabling and menag
erie accommodations of some OF our