Nassau County leader. [volume] (Fernandina, Fla.) 1925-19??, 1910-08-18

rows Of glowing green eyes and great teeth with
the flash of red tongue writing between. zebra
switched the reporter with his tail and he turned,
only to jump almost out of his skin as elephant
touched him on the other shoulder with his trunk.
He was hardly over his scare when. zip leopard
ached out after his coat tail.
In way this lower deck section was a
good place to VISIT the Joy and relief in being able
to leave 1t furnished the biggest and most absorb
ing sensations that this monotonous world has
held for the reporter in the last few months at
least
Bartels & Co., are the largest dealers in wild
beasts in this country
"A large wild animal dealer" said our inform
ant. imports considerably more than a hundred
large wild animals each year. For instance, our
record for one year which happen to have at
hand. shows that We imported in that period 20
elephants. IS camels 20 tigers lions As leopards,
20 pumas, 18 panthers and hundreds of birds and
monkeys and small things Cubs--lion and tiger
and bear cubs-are in special demand by wealthy
families. They are reared and petted like kittens,
but in the end they Outgrow their playfulness and
the families who bought them from are only
too willing to pay us to come and take them away
when they attain any sort of growth. We have
received many orders for hippopotami. but the
beasts are hard to capture and ninety-nne times
out of a hundred they do no: live through the
voyage. In fact, menageries throughout the
try have to depend of late years upon the progeny
Of the hippOpotami in Central Park. New York.
for specimens.
Like all animal dealers maintain expert
animal catchers In all parts of the world, and it is
these men who fill the ships which arrive here.
The Hagenbecks have two collecting stations
one in Calcutta and the other in Alden, Arabia From
this point the animal catchers 60 forth and spend
months in the wilds returning to the stations with
their catch We ourselves send catchers direct
from this cOuntry-at present We have men in
South America on the hot sands of Africa, in the
Himalayas and elsewhere. filling our orders. One
of them was recently in Arabia a camel hunt
two are now In the East Indies trapping tigers
and so they are spread about in places where wild
beasts abide.
Sometimes We receive an order for a large
number Of elephants. We telegraph this order to
our catchers In the elephant country. who after
organizing the natives into a hunting band. pro-
coed to collect the desired number. A huge IN
closure Is built In one of the main elephant patns
and at night when the big animals come o feed
they are driven into the Enclosure or keddah oy
means OF fires and shouts and the firing OF guns.
Beaters on tame elephants then ride into the In
closure and rope the beasts, and in a short time
they become accustomed to being led about Eie'
plants are naturally mild. and were this not the
case they never could be captured because OF
their great hulking strength.
The natives also captured elephants IN pits'
barbarously cruel method in which more IMAM
so per cent are killed by the fall. The amman
catchers take tigers and lions In pits also 1neS
dig hole cover it with mating and place on TINS
mating dead goat. At night the hon OF Tiger
steals from his lair. sees the goat ana springs
upon it. The mating. Of course. gives way ano
he mir roaring OedSt
catchers run up and throw nets into the pit and
the struggling animal soon becomes hopelessly en-.
tangled. Moses are then lowered into The pit and
the beast is dragged ont to the cage si1 out OF
every ten are killed in this process. Leopards and
jaguars and the smaller animals are caught In