That there are imbeciles among animals, that there are the criminally insane, the criminally jealous; morons, warped intellects, criminal effects of laziness; the murder instinct as apart from a natural instinct of self-preservation, and a deliberate desire among some beasts to revolt against the laws of right and wrong are all things which have become foregone conclusions among the animal trainers of to-day. Nor are they the result of mere theories, but rather of experiments in animal psychology to learn which certain beasts do certain things, and the cause for rebellion or obedience.
To tell the truth, animal training has become greatly like human training, especially as regards right and wrong. In fact, this is the first thing that is taught the caged beasts, that it is wrong, for instance, to attempt to steal a cage-mate’s food; that it is wrong to fight the feeding forks by which meat is placed within the den, or attempt to tear at the cage scrapers with which their homes are cleaned. That paws should remain within the cage and not outside; in fact, that anything which happens beyond the bars should be disregarded entirely. The circus must remember always that it caters to spectators, and that some of these spectators apparently leave their brains at home when they go to a circus lot. They know that a tiger or a lion or a leopard is a dangerous beast; they know that their claws are poisonous and sufficiently strong to tear the muscles loose from a person’s arm. But nevertheless, if a big cat happens to be quiescent in its cage, there’ll come the inevitable:
“Oh, isn’t it pretty? I’m going to see if I can’t pet it!”
Whereupon there is a sally under the guard ropes—providing the menagerie attendant isn’t looking—and an attempt to pet an animal which fears every human except his trainer. Then, when the beast inadvertently claws at an arm or a hand, the visitor becomes angry and blames the circus. Therefore, there is only one recourse, to make it a part of animal morals and ethics to keep their paws within their cages and not offer temptations to misguided humans.
What is more, the animals of a menagerie seem to recognize these rules and understand them. The house-cat instinct to play runs through every jungle feline. A fluttering piece of canvas outside the den will offer a constant temptation to paw and tear at it; yet I have seen a leopard disregard a thing like this for hours, seemingly paying no attention to it, until the meal call comes from the cookhouse and the menagerie is deserted of attendants. Whereupon it will sneak forward, play with the canvas until it notes a returning animal man, when it will halt and once more drop back into its usual position, as though that tantalizing bit of canvas were nothing whatever in its life.
Nor does all this merely happen. It comes about, according to the present-day animal men, through a thoroughly developed morality or lack of it. The animal trainer is these days a person of constant experiments, of irrepressible inquiry. It is he who must go into the dens with jungle beasts, or command the elephants in the rings. If things go wrong, he is the one who is taken to the hospital as a result of it, and so he wants to know the why of every animal’s action. During these experiments, some surprising things have taken place, and some revelations concerning the workings of animal minds and animal criminality.
Several years ago, three young tigers, a male and two females, all from different mothers, were placed together in a cage of the John Robinson Circus as a “baby animal” feature. They played together, ate together, seemed happy together.
They grew. The male and one female developed to maturity with a rapidity which was overlooked by the menagerie men. The second female remained a cub. Nevertheless the old case of the triangle had developed; one morning the side boards of the den were taken down and surprised animal men stared within. The smallest tiger was dead; torn and slashed by tooth and claw. The other tigers were nuzzling each other; purring and growling in the good humor of matedom. For them the world was quite rosy; the other angle of the triangle was gone. What is more, the murder of the tigress had been accomplished by both of them; their claws were equally discolored; their jowls both reddened where teeth had torn at the throat and spine of an interloper.
YOUNG LIONS IN THE TRAINING DEN.