This is dangerous enough, but the most dangerous trick of all is when she allows one of her jaguars, Cartouche, to place the weight of his prostrate body on a stick held horizontally in her hands and over her face, while she looks up into his glaring eyes.
Herman Weedon is noted for his mixed groups, of which I have already spoken. He has unlimited courage and daring, and is a splendid trainer, but runs a terrible risk in dealing with Goldie, who is one of the fiercest and most dangerous tigresses. Time after time he has been terribly torn and lacerated by this animal, and time after time he has been warned to give up all attempts at training her and leave her out of the group altogether. But one might as well ask a mountain to move as to ask Weedon to give up Goldie. In spite of her treachery and vindictiveness, he is truly fond of her. He will take the trouble to explain over and over again that it is only occasionally that she has these wicked fits, that often she is most gentle and affectionate, and that she has such a beautiful head and body that it would completely spoil his group to leave her out.
And although all he has ever been able to make her do is to sit on a pedestal and ladder and allow him to open her mouth, he persists in trying, with wonderful and unlimited patience, to subdue that terrible, passionate nature of hers, and induce her to be a little more tractable. He is afraid of nothing, and trouble and opposition only make him more determined to overcome obstacles and attain his object.
A wonderful proof of training is the man-ape, or chimpanzee, Consul. This animal eats and drinks like a human being, plays the piano, uses a typewriter, and behaves in such a wonderfully human way that one begins to wonder whether Darwin’s theory is not right, after all.
Charles Day is one of the oldest trainers in the exhibition, and has been in the Bostock family for thirty years. The fascination of this life is well shown in his case. At one time he was also a trainer of lions, but now contents himself with showing visitors round and explaining the various zoological specimens. He has had more unique experiences than any man I know, and tells them in a very dramatic and amusing manner.
CHAPTER XIII
ACCIDENTS
Every man or woman who trains animals has what are termed “accidents.” Animals differ in temperament, mood, and nature as human beings do, and the trainer learns to read the intent of each in his eye, in the motions of his tail, in his walk and movement.
Animals are erratic and uncertain at times, and one can never tell just what the animal will do. He may have done the same things a great number of times easily and willingly, and yet may, without any warning, suddenly refuse to do anything further. He comes out with a plain, blunt refusal, without any apologies, either in voice or manner, and he usually makes it pretty clear that he means what he says. He has grown rebellious; his sense of wrongs, his hate, and his desire for revenge appear to have culminated suddenly, and his only wish is to get even with those who have been making him do things which made him look ridiculous.
In a case like this there is generally an accident, and if the trainer is not alert and self-possessed he is apt to lose his life. Again, an animal may lose his temper suddenly, and in one of those swift rages or frenzies into which all wild animals are liable to fall at any time try to kill his trainer, and a few moments afterward crawl back and show his repentance. It is most unwise to punish an animal when this happens. He will probably do the same thing again, and may succeed in killing his trainer the next time, but to punish him when he is repentant would only make him vindictive and revengeful, and wild animals do not forget easily.