Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1875 — How Wild Animals Are Trained. [ARTICLE]

How Wild Animals Are Trained.

A reporter of the New York Mercury has obtained from “the great lion-tamer and wild-beast king, Charley ‘White," the following information respecting the subduing and training'of wild animals,: taken full-grown from the woods and jungles are generally much more easily trained than those that have been born in captivity and brought up by the human hand or by their mother in the cage. These latter or “ pet” animals, nearly always acquire many tricks and manners wliicli they have to unlearn before they tan be properly taught. Then, too, their constant familiarity from eariy cubhood with mankind tends greatly to divest them of that fear-of the human animal which is the first essential in their education to proper subjection. On the other hand, those beasts that are brought up so as to know no sentiment but fear soon learn that their ill-temper will not he tolerated for a moment, and that a fit of sulks only brings heavy punishment. The first great agent in taming wild beasts just taken from their' native lor-' ests is partial starvation.- They are kept without food until they are both weakened in-strength and subdued in temper and fierceness. Food is then given them by degrees, always by the same person, until they learn to recognize man. As soon as expedient their claws are cut so closely that, their power of mischief is nearly destroyed from those weapons—they are then muzzled, and having been sufficiently accustomed to "the presence of the keeper they are then exeraHsfd in a cage one at a time. The slightest sign of viciousness is instantly punished by a sharp blow until the animal learns to know the whip and to understand the word of command.

The same routine is pursued in the case of lions, tigers, panthers, leopards and all other animals of the cat kind, which must ever be controlled by fear, and mugt be constantly watched lest their treacherous nature break out. To teach an animal to jump through a hoop, a piece of meat is suspended-in such a manner as to be only accessible by a'leap through the ring—after a few repetions the animal soon learns to connect the ideas of food and the ring and the act of leaping, and will soon make tlie leap and he content to wait for the reward. It will be noticed that a cage of performing animals is always fed during or immediately after their exhibition. The nose is the most vulnerable spot. A sharp blow on the nose with a whip will give a lion or tiger exquisite pain, when a liit with a sledge-hammer between the eyes lie wouldn’t mind at all. Next to the nose the paws are the most sensitive portions of the frame. It is'often asserted that red-hot irons are used in training animals for public performances. This is all a mistake. Hot irons are only resorted to when a keeper has been seized and is in imminent danger, and hot irons chalice to be near. Sometimes they are used to separate two large lions or tigers which are fighting and cannot be driven apart in any other way. Long bars of iron or steel, heated to red heat in a forge, are pressed against the jaws and teeth of two fighting brutes. For a time each imagines that the unwonted pain comes from liis adversary; but a few minutes serve to convince both that some power more potent is at work, and they quickly return to milder duties. A lesson of hot irons seldom has to he repeated more than once a year. Of those animals seen in an ordinary performing cages the hardest to train is the black leopard. This animal is treacherous and always liable to break out into open insubordination. Thus it will be seen that, both in the training and the performing of caged animals, and in the keeping them in subjection at all times, the one element of fear is all that is mainly relied on. Only thus can they be managed with even tolerable safety, and no matter how carefully managed they will, in some sudden, inexplicable fit of ill-temper, attack a keeper whose daily companion they have been for years. Despite a commons-received opinion to the contrary, beasts —the larger felines, at all events—do not seem to possess the means of Communicating to each other any acquired knowledge. Each one has to be taught separately. The others tell him nothing. Among certain of the smaller animals this fact does not hold, as may appear in the sequel. The last few years have dissipated certain ideas, formerly universally prevalent, about various animals which were alleged to be untamable. These were notably the hyena, zebra, rhinoceros, gnu, or horned horse, and one or two of the minor animals, not usually considered worthy the trouble of taming. The first—and, indeed, we believe the only—rhinoceros tamed was broken by Dan Rice, when he was a circus proprietor. He broke the unwieldy brute to run round the ring backward and forward, being always controlled by a long ringrein fastened to an iron ring in his nose. This was all the sulky beast could be compelled to do. He would learn no trick and was always dangerous. The first hyena ever trained, or whose supposed fierce nature was ever overcome so as to submit to being handled by man, was one which was experimented on in 1854 by Charles White in Brooklyn. He was five or six years old, full grown, and as full of vice as all of his grave-rob-bing fraternity are reported to be. The first time the daring, trainer ventured into the cage Mr. Hyena came at him, mouth wide open, tusks protruding, screaming like an angry horse. It was evidently to he a sharp’ fight between the man and the brute. Mr. White, with a huge club in his hands, awaited the coming of the amiable Mr. H. As soon as Mr. R: got near enough Mr. White prostrated him with the club. This was repeated again and again till at length he needed no more club, and from this time was as docile as any untrained animal, and needed no more and no severer correction than does a young lion or leopard.

One large show in London had several hyenas trained to do tricks—they were performed by a stalwart negro, who, among other feats, fastened an iron belt around his waist, upon w hich were a number of hooks arranged like those we see in butchers’ shops. On these steel hooks were stuck pieces of raw and bloody meat which the animals were permitted to take off with their teeth when they had done their tricks. Their performances were similar to those of other animals, consisting of various leaps over the keep er’s back, over bars, through rings, and over banners, together with taking part in sundry posturing and grouping, of which the man is always the central figure. v ' QZebras have been so often broken to harness within the past ten or a dozen years that the old notion of their untamable nature has about faded out of recollection. It is by no means uncommon to see zebras driven about the ring in harness by circus managers.

The gnu, or horned horse, formerly thought to be the unicorn of the Bible, is another of the so-c Ailed untamable. He has, however, been sulklued to about the same extent as Dan Rice’s rhinoceros—that is, simply to leading, and that, too, with the greatest precaution. Bears, those which are so-tame as to walk the street comparatively übguarded, with the organ-grinders, are easily taught. Bruin is simply a graft, good-natured pig, rather disinclined to active exertion of all sorts. Having a particular sensitive spot in the instance of his nose he is comparatively easy to manage. His intelligence is nearly equal to that of the dog, and were it not for his unwieldly shape and his great weight and tendency to corpulency could easily be taught to do all the jumps and rollings-over and other feats of agility in which the dog so much excels. The most that is required of him, however, is to climb poles, and posts, to puss around a tin cup for pennies, to go through various semi-military maneuvers with a stick in imitation of a gun, and occasionally to take part in a simulated sparring-match, ih wliicli, slow as he is, he is certain to win. Sometimes .poor Bruin will perform a peculiar slow series of steps, which is called a dance, and a well-trained bear will even waltz with his master. Beyond the rough training elephants receive in the countries where they are caught, which teaches them to mind the words of the keeper and to submit to its necessary bonds,"' it has to undergo a special education to enable it to go through its many tricks in the broad arena of the circus. Being more intelligent than a dog, as tractable as a horse, as full of pride and vanity as a woman, and quite as willing to learn as his master is to have him, his teaching is a matter of but short time. He learns by imitation, and will adopt a new trick from seeing another animal perform it far more readily than a dog will. A little coaxing, feeding with much-loved delicacies (lie is passionately fond of sweets of all kinds and fruits), appealing to his vanity by gay trappings and dresses, and Mix Elephant soon learns to trot, walk, lie down, get up, go lame, sham steps, stand on tubs, walk tlie tight-rope, stand on his head, and in fact to undertake anything which the keeper can make him understand. Elephants are worth from $2,000 to $30,000 each, according to size, age, docility, amount of training, etc. It being natural to monkeys to climb, it is very easy to teach them to" run up balconies and second floors to collect small moneys from the little people, a sharp jerk from tlie long pords attached to tlieir waists soon bringing them back to earth if they seem disposed to wander out of hounds. They are taught to hold little sticks in their hands in imitation of a gun by placing the sticks in their hands and rapping them sharply if they let them fall before the word is given. A great advantage is'also taaen of the monkey’s faculty of imitation. The trainer will handle the stick or fire off tlie pistol or pick up pennies from the ground and put them into the red cap, and in a short time, if left to himself, Mr. Monkey is sure to imitate ali the operations, thus unconsciously learning all the lessons which are to earn him his living in after life. The little street performer with his red military suit, or the little lady with her fine embroidered petticoat, are corrected much more severely for losing or overlooking a pennyin the collections of the day than for forgetting or bungling any of the tricks. This accounts for the restless eagerness with which a street monkey will scratch “over every inch of “dust and gravel, and the great sigh of satisfaction he will give when he at last picks up the last of the scanty donations. Losing a penny means to him also losing his supper as well, to say nothing of a sound whipping thrown in gratuitously.