CARL HAGENBECK, THE KING OF ANIMAL IMPORTERS. A VISIT TO HIS HANDELS MENAGERIE IN HAMBURG AND TO HIS WILD-ANIMAL PARK IN STELLINGEN
Many people will no doubt wonder how Zoological Gardens obtain their collections of animals and birds. It was my good fortune to be conducted round the Handels Menagerie as well as the Park at Stellingen by Herr Carl Hagenbeck, the genial king of animal importers. I was ushered into his office, and seated upon a chair made of antelopes’ horns and covered with lizard skins. In front of me on a bureau were some life-like bronzes of animals, modelled from living specimens formerly in Hagenbeck’s collection. Some bronze elephants with real ivory tusks were remarkably well executed. Above the writing-table was a portrait of Hagenbeck’s father framed in ivory tusks, and close by a curious malformation of roe-deer’s horns. The room was littered with horns and skulls and curiosities from every part of the world.
CARL HAGENBECK.
‘I began to collect animals when I was four years old,’ said Carl Hagenbeck, with a smile. ‘My father began business with some seals, and in 1852 he bought the first polar bear ever seen in Europe. He exhibited it in Hamburg, charging fourpence admission. With the proceeds he bought other animals and birds from sailors who brought them home on their ships.’
From this humble beginning Carl Hagenbeck, by his wonderful skill and knowledge of the art of keeping live animals in health, has now, after having been head of the business for thirty-six years, the largest stock of live animals in the world. The value of his animals is greater than the value of the animals in any one Zoological Garden in Europe.
‘I suppose you employ a good number of people to collect for you?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ he said; ‘just now I have a large crowd of people coming from Siberia with thirty roe-deer, fifteen ibex, wild sheep, and several small animals and birds for me. I have seven people collecting for me in Central Asia, and one in India fetching me home twenty elephants. Three of my people are in Mongolia, one in the Pamir district, one in the Altai district, and one in the Arar lake district. One of my men is on the road now from the Soudan, and will be here the first week in June with three large giraffes, some kudu, and other antelopes.’
‘The giraffes for England?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ he said; ‘the Duke of Bedford has already bought them for his park.’