Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-08-19

the Jungle. And this number, of course, does not
include such immense foreign animal firms the
Hagenbacks. 1t is a 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 as a consequence prices
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 constantly being purchased
by them. Then there are private collectors and
crcuses and the like, that are ever ready to pay
the highest prices for desirable animals. The ami
NAL dealer who could and bring to this
country three or four gorillas would make a small
fortune. But dealer has succeeded in do
ing this. The gorallas die in few weeks In cap
tivty; they could not stand ocean trip for a
day.
rusty old German liner lumbers noisily into
Quarantine, and then lies motionless on the tide
An officer, with broad. red. bewhiskered face,
stands at the head of the companion ladder, and
he smiles peculiar smile. husky screaming
uulation rises from below THE animals are get,
ting hungry he explains; you know have
several hundred of them the tween decks.
Want to them? All right" In another minute
probably the most competent animal man in the
world is at our side. He Is not trainer, or even
tanner he is more. He is a sort of animal cook.
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 wilds 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 If the tiger gets OF on his diet and
needs nice fresh i've rabbit to tone up his sys-
TEN, this will be aware of the fact almost
before the tiger is-and, ergo, nice big jumping
bunny is sacrificed In accordance with the pre-
cepts of wild beast materia medica Then. too,
one never tell just when the big boa is go
ing to rouse from his last gorge: when he does
he wants a toothsome young goat, and he wants
It quick 1t is a part of the animal mans duties
to anticipate the boa's appetite with all possible
expedition.
He is a quiet, unassuming man, with stoop
shoulders and bushy whiskers and he leads the
way to the tween decks without a word. Per-
haps the uninitiated may believe that tour
through the animal section of a freight-carrying
vessel is an unimpressve experience Well, let
them try it 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
the way to Hamburg tnen nnally pldceu
in the stygian tween decks of a German hooker
: 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 bowls ant
wines and the barks cease abruptly as the stran
gers enter For they bring the smell of land, ant
the great beasts sniff inquiringly and hungrfly
too
The cages lined both sides of the gloomy space
with little passageway between the boxes. Per
haps this passageway was three feet wide, no
more The cages were piled two and sometime
three deep. In the bottom cage. for instance
would be a tiger; in the next above smaller AM
NAL say, a leopard or q lynx. and above that
parrot or a bunch OF neerkats. Think OF it!
threefoot passageway. with ferocious animals
stretching along for 100 feet on all sides. Tai
about nightmares The reporters hair stinene
out like SO many pieces of wire, and he wishe
most fervently that he had not come. 1t was NOR
agreeable he felt to see these animals In me
nagerie where the cages are ample and the bar
an inch thick
Better keep in the middle OF the aisle," say
one of the animal men; these fellows sometime
reach out for you"
Words such as these. of course, hardly tende
TO reassure.
II really was too dark to see much. On
caught view of the cages stretching away 1
gloomy perspective until lost in the darkness. c