He despises them with all the contempt of his animal nature, and recognizes neither their authority nor superiority. Just as men recognize superior minds and strong personalities in other men, so does the wild animal recognize such qualities, and it is wonderful how extremely susceptible animals are to graceful, refined, and pleasing personalities.
The personality of an animal trainer is one that counts both with the animals and with the audience, and the more magnetic, polished, and accomplished he is, the greater will be his success and the stronger will be his influence, both with the animals with which he comes in contact and with the public which observes him. But if a man has begun to take just a little, or has deviated somewhat from the straight road, the animals will discover it long before his fellow-men.
From that moment the trainer’s life is in danger every time he enters the cage, and the animals keep a keen lookout for the moment when he will either trip a little,—always the signal for animals to spring,—lose his nerve, or let his thoughts go wandering off to other matters, even for a moment or two. The least carelessness, the least indifference, even a little unusual movement on his part, is quite enough to make the animals spring upon him and get him down.
HERMAN WEEDON DEFYING HIS FIERCEST LION
Occasionally a trainer who is beginning to take to drink or other bad habits realizes that he will soon lose the respect and control of his animals, and is wise enough to drop the training business before too late. But, as a rule, once a man has taken up this profession he is extremely loath to resign, although he may be perfectly well aware that he endangers his life every moment he trusts himself among the animals. There is a peculiar fascination about the life which keeps him at it; and although I have often warned men, they have rarely been induced to give it up until some severe accident has happened which has either disabled them, or given them such a shock that they lost their nerve entirely.
One of the finest lion-trainers that America ever had has now voluntarily retired, though still in the prime of life; but he is addicted to drink, realized the danger, and so was sensible enough to give it up before too late. He felt it was absolutely unsafe for him to enter the arena night after night, when no matter how little he drank had a numbing effect upon him.
The climax came one night when, feeling a little more numb than usual, he suddenly noticed in the midst of the performance that his lions were all looking at him curiously. Instantly he knew that they had lost their respect for him, for all trainers can tell, before anything happens, when the moment has come in which they are likely to lose their dominance, if that loss comes, not through accident, but through the paralysis of their own power. He realized at once the pitiful state he was drifting into, and the danger, and was wise and quick enough to get out before they got him.
But that was the last time he ever entered the cage. From being tractable and docile, the lions from that time had nothing but hatred and contempt for him, and his approach even near their cages was always the signal for savage snarls and vicious leaps at the bars.
Another essential in animal training is patience. It must be an ingrained attribute of the character, and dominant at all times—a constant, persistent, unwearying patience. Without it the trainer will never make a complete success. Allied with patience must be good judgment, and one who is patient generally has good judgment. This is one of the reasons that, as a rule, Englishmen and Germans, being more phlegmatic, make excellent animal trainers.