Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1910-02-24
ANIMAL EXPERT
TELLS ADVENTURE
LEAVES FROM LIFE OF A MAN
WHO SPENT FORTY YEARS IN
A LONDON zoo.


forty years among wild animals, but
Arthur Thomson. who has just re-
tired from his position as assistant
superintendent at the geological gar
dens, has not found it so.
He has had one or two, however,
and, as a canny Scot, not particularly
looking for trouble, he has found these
quite enough to satisfy him.
ION one OCCASION" said Mr.. Thorn
son to Answers representative, I'VE
wanted to attend to a baby hippopra-
mus, which was in one of the tanks
with its mother. To do so, 1t was
first necessary to separate the two,
and we did all that we could think OF
to induce the lady to enter the yard
adjoining the tank enclosure. All our
Establishments failed, however, and
finally, I myself leaped over the en-
closure fence on the yard side.
In an instant the huge animal
ruhsed madly through the gate con-
meeting the two enclosures, and while
| was still clinging to the ratings, she
seized me by the legs in her powerful
jaws, and flung me clean over the
fence again. Had she flung me In
wards instead of out, she might have
got hold of me again, and finished
me.
"On another occasion l was bitten
in the leg by llama while trying to
get him out of his cage, and although,
in the ordinary way, we don't trouble
much about bites, this one gave me
rather bad time. I thought nothing
about it until some three weeks after
the occurrence, when I collapsed SUD-
denly in the gardens, and had to 20 TO
bed with blood poisoning for six
weeks.
"One of the worst times ever I've
had was in 1906, when the Polar bears
escaped from their enclosure. We cot
male back without a great deal of
trouble, but the female was less amen
able, and came after me full tilt.
Without wishing to exaggerate, be-
l1eve she sprang about ten feet, al
though l did not stop to measure.
deeming it wiser to make off as fast
as possible. Never before or since
have | run as fast as | did then; but.
fortunately, an Indian keeper managed
to distract the animals attention fromll
ME.
F1nllly, by placing pieces of fat on
the ground, ever nearer and nearer
the cage, we got her to approach the
door gradually, and, finally, a piece
thrown right in did the trick, and en-
abled us to breathe freely again.
This adventure was none the less
exciting for taking place in fog.
Generally, elephants are very
easy to handle; but one we had from
Ears court gave us some trouble.
The brute took it into his head to go
Off on it's own, and went careering,
about the grounds. Mad elephants are
not wanted in Regents park, so /
shot the animal with bullet through
the temple, from Mannlicher rifle.
No; fortunately, neither lion nor
a tiger has ever escaped into the gar
dens. If one did escape, and 1 were
on the spot, should arm myself with
a good rifle, and, ambushing in one
OF the enclosures. wait an opportunity
to get a good shot home. Even il |
there were number of people in the
gardens, I don't imagine there would.
be any great difficulty in getting them
cleared out.
One of the Weirdest sights I have
ever seen was a fight between a lion.I
and lioness. We thought we might
put them together, but no sooner had.
we introduced the lady into my lords
abode than he sprang upon her, threw
her down and buried his teeth in ner
throat.
AS though dying, the lioness. lay
quite still, while the keepers tried to
drive the male off with poles, but a.
to no purpose. in the end we got a
syringe and gave the lion a stream
OF water full in the face, which so
surprised him that he looked around
at us with acomically puzzled express
sion.
This was the lioness' opportunity,
and she seized lit, springing up and
dashing through the open door lead
ing to the next cage. The waiting
keeper Immediately shut this door,
and she was safe
Frequently in the course of my
duties | have had to 60 to different
foreign countries to bring home ami.
mails, and these include Somaliland for
zebras, Egypt for CRATES and North
America for antelopes.
When King Menelik presented two
Grevy zebras to Queen Victoria, was
sent to fetch them over to this coun-
try. One of them died suddenly soon
after, but the other is still in the
kings possession.
When the prince of Wales was in
India, he had a shipload of fine wild
animals presented to him, and I had
TO bring these over also. While there.
| picked up two native keepers and
brought them back with me, and. curl-
ously enough it was one of these who
saved me from the danger of the DO
lar bears hug"