THE MANAGEMENT OF WILD BEASTS.
Sl7TTON, the head-keeper of the lion-house at the Zoological Gardens, and a very old servant of the Society, has this week retired with a pension. He had been employed for more than forty years, mainly in the care of the great earnivora, first as keeper of the bears, but for the greater part of his life in the daily management of the 'arge felidx. Like many of the Zoo keepers, he was an East Anglian, accustomed when a boy to the care of domestic animals; but he had acquired unconsciously a " manner " which was specially acceptable to the huge cats among which he moved. He was quiet, deliberate, and almost slow, never making a sudden movement or a loud noise. The animals were never hurried or forced to move if not inclined to do so, which no cat, even if it be a tiger, ever forgives, and they were left to grow tame at their own good pleasure. In the passage behind the dens he received new arrivals, nursed the sick, prepared the food, and controlled the transfer of some thirty lions, leopards, tigers, and jaguars from day to slight cages, and from both to the outdoor runs in summer. New animals were always a source of trouble and anxiety. Every one who keeps, or has once kept, tame animals knows the uncertainty and frequent disappointment which attends the first arrival and inspection of those which have come from a distance. Shaken, frightened, suffering from want of water, with broken feathers or soiled fur, they show the ill effects of travelling, even for twenty-four hours, by rail or water. But in the case of the smaller animals kept as pets, it may safely be assumed that they were at least despatched on their journey in good condition. When the animal is one of the large carnivora—perhaps a tiger from some Malayan 'rajah, or a half-grown lion from Somaliland—there is no means of knowing whether, previous to its being shipped, it 'has been half-starved or overfed. Possibly it has undergone 'both forms of treatment. The sea-voyage usually improves their condition, the sailors being always kind to animals, and in a measure assisting to tame them before their appearance at the Zoo. But in most cases the temper, condition, and size of the creature are matters of speculation until the van -drives up and deposits the big box in which the creature has been brought from the docks. Very few are ready to appear in public at once ; those which are obviously ill and
exhausted sometimes undergo treatment for several months before being exhibited in the front cages. Sutton was an untiring and successful nurse and doctor of such sick and travel-worn beasts. Some years ago a young tiger arrived from the back regions of China. This animal should have shown the fine proportions and long, furry coat for which the northern tiger is famous. Instead it was a mere cari- cature of a tiger. It had been half-starved for months before its delivery at the coast. Having been captured just at the time when a tiger-cub begins to grow, the result of this ill- treatment was that while its head had increased to the normal size of a half-grown tiger's, its body was no larger than that of a small retriever. Its limbs were bent, and its whole frame stunted and undeveloped. Its whole appearance suggested the necessity for an "Act for the Prevention of Cruelty to Tigers" in the northern provinces of China. To rear the creature and develop it into an animal fit for publio exhibition appeared impossible. One point only was in the keeper's favonr. In spite of ill-treatment, the tiger's temper and disposition were amiable. It was almost, if not quite, the tamest of its species ever kept at the Zoo. It could be handled like a big dog, and showed its affection for the keepers by purring loudly as Boon as it saw or even heard them. The first business of the keepers was to feed it wisely, but not too well. Its digestion was poor, and its jaws too weak to crack large bones. It was therefore put on a diet of boiled mutton and bone-dust, the latter being added as material for building up its frame. The tiger soon began to grow, and was making good progress when the secondary effects of early neglect appeared. This commonly takes the form of loss of fur. In the present instance the unfortunate tiger lost all its hair, except that on its head and face. During this time it was kept "in retreat," but by careful diet and the use of sulphur as a " cosmetic " its coat was restored, and it was at last exhibited, fairly grown, with a good coat, and as tame as a dog, in the front cages. Then after some months it fell ill, this time of an incurable internal disease, and died, much to Sutton's regret, who always declared that it "would have made a nice tiger."
It always appeared to the writer that he treated lions, and some male-tigers, as if they were dogs ; while all the lionesses, the leopards, pumas, and most tigers were treated as cats. Lionesses he never touched with the hand, and leopards, except the snow-leopards, very seldom ; but some of the tigers and the male lions behaved in their dealings with him exactly as if they were domesticated animals. Bears, he maintained, always became unsafe to handle after they were full-grown, though often tame and friendly when cubs. Polar-bears, on the other hand, he looked upon as always dangerous 6.nd quite untameable, having a. kind of incurable levity which makes them absolutely with- out respect or fear for man, even when they are kept in captivity. In the case of the larger cats, age and ill-temper do not necessarily increase together. In all the years spent in the care of the large carnivora, he never received an injury. Yet, though never hurt by the bears or lions, he was nearly killed by a zebra. The correct facts of this curious accident were as follows. The zebra, which was known to be very savage, was turned out into a yard, the sliding-door between the yard and its stall being pushed to, but not fastened by the man whose duty it was to do so. Sutton was in the inner stall, putting in fresh hay, when the zebra heard him. He also heard it trot up to the door, and the next moment saw its muzzle pushed against the crack which had been left between the edge of the door and the post. It slid the door back in a moment, ran in, and stooping its head, seized him below the knee, and threw him violently on his back. It held on to his leg, biting so severely that it cracked the shin-bone, though Sutton, who was lying on his back, kicked it hard with the other foot. The other men drove it off with stable forks, but the keeper was laid up for thirteen weeks from the effects of the bite.
An animal which has recovered from the bad effects of trans- port and has lived six months at the Zoo may be considered as acclimatised to its peculiar surroundings, and lives in comfort the rest of its days, until age or the ordinary accidents of animal life make special treatment necessary. The ingenuity by which these mishaps are remedied often show considerable observation and knowledge of the animals' habits on the parts of their keepers. One of the most poisonous snakes, a king. cobra, recently became nearly blind. When it shed its skin it threw off every part except the transparent plate which covers the eye. After each change of skin this plate remained nncast, and the successive layers became opaque, and pro- jected over the eye in a horny boss. The keeper used the snake-habit of creeping through any aperture which it can find in the wall of its cage to make it rid itself of the growth over the eye. He drew back the iron shutter which separates one compartment from the other, leaving a narrow space open. The cobra soon discovered this, and pushed its nose into the crack. This was slightly widened, and the snake squeezed through, rubbing off one of the scales as it did so. It was then induced to go back by the way it had come ; and after this had been repeated once or twice it cleared the scale from the other eye. Since then it has cast its skin completely, and its eyes are apparently none the worse for its temporary blindness. Snakes naturally drag themselves through rough grass and holes to get rid of the old skin which clings to them ; and the keeper's surgery was a. happy application of natural expedients. With most other serpents it would have been easy to catch the creature, and remove the growth ; but the king-cobra was too venomous to be handled. The life of the largest python at the Zoo has been prolonged by a similar knowledge of snake-habits, based on the exhibition of their unlimited powers of swallowing when once the process has begun, which recently led to the absorption of one boa-constrictor by another. The big python had grown too languid to take sufficient food to keep it alive. It would seize a pigeon, but refuse to eat more, its usual meal being four or five pigeons and ducks. It was, therefore, apparently destined to die of slow starvation. Its keeper, however, tried the exp'eriment of pushing a dead duck into its mouth before the pigeon had quite vanished. As the python went on swallowing this he pushed in another, and continued the process until it had made a sound meal. This has now been done for some months, and the python, whose digestion has survived, though its power of seizing its prey has partly failed, has increased greatly in size and weight. Whether a big snake prefers to prolong its existence on these conditions we have no means of judging. But the instances referred to of successful treatment of animal ailments show that the management of wild beasts at the Zoo has results no less satisfying to the animals than to those who maintain them there as objects of scientific interest.
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