The Arvada enterprise., 1910-08-19

portdtlon OF animals fresh from
the jungle, And this number, of course, does not
include such immense foreign animal firms as the
Hagenbacks. 1t Is paying business as indeed
are all businesses where the demand exceeds the
supply. The demand for wild beasts is far greater
than the supply. and consequence prices are
good, and the dealers men of wealth. The extent
OF this demand may be appreciated when one con-
siders that most of the great cities in the United
States have geological parks or -menageries and
that the animals are constantly being purchased
by them. Then there are private collectors and
circuses and the like, that are ever ready to paw
the highest prices for desirable animals The ami
mai dealer who could secure and bring to this
country three or four gorilas would make a small
fortune. But no dealer has ever succeeded in do
Ing this. The gorillas die in few weeks in can
tivity; they could not stand an ocean trip for a
day.
rusty old German liner lumbers noisily into
Quarantine, and then lies motionless on thu. tide
An officer. with broad, red bewhiskered face
stands at the head of the companion ladder and
he smiles a peculiar smile, as husky screaming
ululation rises from below. 1.-The animals are get
ting hungry. he explains, you know we have
several hundred of them on the tween decks
: Want to see them? All right" In another minute
probably the most competent animal man in the
world is at our side. He Is not trainer, even
tanner; he is more He is sort of animal cook.
and his special business is the personal manage
ment Of wild animal tours He receives them
lions, tigers, leopards, elephants, everything else
at Hamburg. where they have been brought
fresh from their native wtds. and not only super
intends their shipment aboard vessel bound for
New York. but he sails with them to make sure
that they arrive safely and in good health. And
be sure that II the tiger gets off on his diet and
needs nice fresh live rabbit to tone up his sys.
TEN, this man will be aware of the fact almost
before the tiger is-and, ergo nice big jumping
hun 10 tn x,yith
cepts of wild beast materia medica. Then. too,
never tell Just when the big boa is go
ing to rouse from his last gorge; when he does
he wants toothsome young goat, and he wants
1t quick 1t is part of the animal mans duties
to anticipate the boa's appetite with all possible
expedition.
He is quiet, unassumng man, with stoop
shoulders and bushy whiskers. and he leads the
way to the tween decks without word. Per-
haps the uninitiated may believe that tour
through the animal section of freight-carrying
vessel is an unimpressive experience. Well, let
them try 1t and see! This can be said at the out
set-it is somewhat different from menagerie.
1t means something to come into close proximity
to hundred and odd wild animals that have been
ruthlessly snatched from their lairs in Africa or
Asia, or elsewhere and clapped into little barred
boxes, not as large as dry goods cases; slammed
in and out of dark holes in the vessels Of several
seas on the way to Hamburg; then finally placed
IN tne StyBldn tween uechs Vi uei imdh hoohei.
The swinging cross seas OF the North Atlantic
have not improved their tempers, or their nerv
GUS systems and the visitor at Quarantine is
quickly impressed with that fact The howls and
whines and the barks abruptly as the stran
gers enter. For they bring the smell OF land, and
the great beasts sniff inquiringly and hungrily
too.
The cages lined both sides Of the gloomy space
with little passageway between the boxes. Per
haps this passageway three feet wide not
more. The cages were piled two and sometimes
three deep In the bottom cage, for instance
would be tiger; In the next above smaller anil
NAL say, a leopard or lynx and above that
parrot, or bunch of neerkats. Think of 1t!
three-foot passageway, with ferocious animals
stretching along for 100 feet on all sides. Talk
about Nightmares! The reporters hair stiffened
out Hike SO many pieces of wire, and he wished
most fervently that he had not come. 1t was more
agreeable, he felt. to see these animals in me-
nagerte where the cages ample and the bars
an inch thick
Better keep in the middle Of the aisle," says
one Of the animal men; these fellows sometimes
reach out for you"
Words such as these. of course. hardly tended
to reassure
1t really was too dark to see much. One
caught view of the cages stretching away In
gloomy perspective until lost in the darkness, OF