Revolvers flash, whips crack. But the lion will not be tamed. Gradually he forces the trainer backwards, closer, closer; now he has him in a corner and crouches to leap; now the trainer edges forth into a new chance for life, only to be re-cornered by the bloodthirsty beast; to be almost chewed to pieces, and finally, in a desperate rush, he escapes through the steel door just as the lion comes crashing against it!
Thrilling! But only an act, after all. For every movement of that battle is a rehearsed thing, with the lion and the trainer each knowing every instant what the other is going to do. And the lion which displays his fierceness in this manner is usually the calmest beast of the whole menagerie. So it was with Jake. Until one day they changed his habitat from a full cage to one slightly smaller than a half compartment. And that day Jake became a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!
In the arena, he was the same old Jake, dependable, exact to the quarter of an inch. But once the act was over and he was returned to his new home, he became in reality the beast he had simulated in the steel arena.
Apparently there was no cause for it. Nevertheless the consequence was there. Instead of his usual amiability, he had taken on a sullen, vengeful fierceness. His trainer could not come near him. He fought the feeding forks. He refused food.
They tried experiments upon him to test his mentality and to seek to determine the extent of his murder lust. A live cat was placed scrambling in the den. He paid no attention to it. A fluttering chicken was thrown within. He disregarded that also. His hate was for humans and humans alone, the humans who had placed him in that small enclosure; and his hatred vanished as soon as he was released into the steel arena. About that time they began to inquire into Jake’s past.
That inquiry brought forth the fact that Jake had been shipped to America five years before; that he had come in a crate too small for him, and that he had been horribly mistreated by one of the attendants who accompanied him to this country from the shipping headquarters in Europe. Perhaps Jake didn’t remember the specific instance. But the closeness of small quarters had brought back to him an instinctive hatred, and Jake was a murderer as long as that instinct worked on him. The result was that Jake was returned to his old domicile, a full cage, and he once more became placid. Even I, no trainer of lions, or even of dogs, could go into the cage with him and not think any more of it than a visit with a house cat. But in that small cage, well that was something else again!
So it goes. Mentality’s a queer thing, even in beasts. The amount of insanity which has been discovered in recent years has been surprising, even to men who had argued its presence. Nor is there much deviation between the human and animal cause.
A great part of it comes from inbreeding and poor parentage, just as it does with humans. Some comes from illness, especially that affecting the spine and nerves. And still another cause is idleness.
Evidently Adam wasn’t the only being that was told to get out and earn his daily food. Animals must have received their orders also, for the happiness and health and mental comfort of every one of them depends upon work. Lions and tigers and leopards are made to pace in expectancy for their meals; the great hunks of meat are purposely delayed. The elephant is happiest when he is worked hard, and plenty of strain placed upon his muscles. The tamest beasts of any circus are the “working bulls,” allowed to wander at will about the circus grounds, with their trainer lolling in the shadow of a wagon and commanding his charge merely by a word or a grunt. And nowadays the first thing that is prescribed for a convalescent beast on at least one circus is exercise!
It came about in a rather queer way. A three-year-old lioness became ill with an intestinal disease. Weakened, it was believed that absolute rest was the best thing for her. She was taken out of the act of which she formed a part, confined in a half compartment, and presumably well cared for. Months went by. Then it was discovered that the cat had become insane.