The Farce and Tragedy of the Zoo
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THE DESERT KINO
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BARRED FROM HIS
(Copyright, 1904, by T. C. McClure.)
1VKRY zIorIchI garden Is rich In
storlPH or queer incidents in tne
lives of Its Inhabitants, nnd these
stories lire full of tragedy, com
edy, pathos or excitement.
In Snn Francisco there Is a large recrea
tion park which Is partly mado up of a
menagerie. Some years ago two orang
outangs were Imported and placed therein.
The orang-outang Is naturally a gentle,
tamable nnlmnl, but these two specimens
were unusually so. A miniature bed room
was fitted up for them, containing a table,
chairs, a bed with a mattress, und covers
and dishes from which they ate.
On Sundays Darby and Joan, as the
pair were called, were allowed to show
their housekeeping methods to the public.
One side of their little house was taken
out and replaced ty a wire screen, SO that
they were fully exposed.
Joan was dressed as a woman should be,
and Darby was gorgeously arrayed In a
pair of short red trousers, a green coat
and a leather belt. They would amuse
themselves at playing housekeeping, which
they did In an unusual way by picking
their teeth with chair legs, pulling the
mattress off the bed and shoving It under
the table, or pushing each other under the
bed. They seemed to enjoy the fun
almost as much as the crowd outside.
Darby had an investigating turn of mind.
No new article introduced Into the room
ever escaped his eyes. He would seize
Upon It and by repeated experiments learn
Its use. This habit cost him dearly.
One day a small boy tossed a match in
between the wires. Darby's eyes lighted
with a new Interest and he picked up the
match, his mouth screwed up in naive
Wonder.
First he put It In his mouth his first
est of any new article but It did not
tasta well. He found its true use sooner
than he expected. Taking the match from
his mouth, Darby rubbed It on the table,
and It flared up Into flume. It fell rn
Joan. Her skirts were made of some in
flammable material and the lighted match
set them aflame.
Had she been cool about It there would
have been no danger, but Jonn did not
Understand fire, so she flew from side to
Bide of the little room, while her skirts
flamed about her. Iiefore the keeper could
come to her rescue fhp fell on the bed In
an' hysterical heap. She w is taken out
and her burns treated with sweet oil, but
th-3 fright and the smoke and finme she
liad inhaled proved fatal. Next diy Darby
found himself a widower.
Friendship Is not uncommon nmong citi
zens of the Zoo, even between the repre
sentatives of different species. In the New
York Central Park Zoo a big Polir bear
and his distant cousin, a grizzly, were
confined In the same pit, but it wag con
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IN CAPTIVITY.
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OLD ENEMY.
sidered expedient to separate them by a
strong partition of bars. Uoth were full
grown, husky specimens of their breed, and
had they ever came together with Intent
to kill It Is probable that the entire force
of keepers could not have separated them.
One day a small boy threw a paper box
containing some sugared popcorn Into tho
grizzly's side of the pit. It fell close to
the partition, and In trying to shove It
away with his muzzle the grizzly clumsily ,
pushed It Into a hole Just under the par
tition bats. The greater part of the hole
was on the Polar bear's side of the houso
and he could easily have pushed out
tho box, but he seated himself on his
haunches and watched his neighbor trying
to get his big paw down the opening of
the hole. It proved too small and the box
was too deep down. At last the grizzly
gave It up and sat ruefully regarding his
lost treasure.
Suddenly the Polar bear rose to the occa
sion. Ho waddled over, to the hole on his
side, rolled over on his side, thrust his paw
down and shoved the box up Into the griz
zly's yurd.
Kvor after that the two giants were good
friends. The Polar bear would often
stretch himself out beside the partition on
a hot day and poke his long, slim muzzle
In between the bars. Orlzzly would drop
down, too, .and shove his snout over against
his friend's, and thus they would sleep for
hours, grunting their dreams Into each
other's ears.
Another bear story conies from Raymond
Dltiriurs, head keeper of the New York
Zoological park, but It is of a different na
ture. A pair of brown bear cubs Wfro put
Into the Bame pit with a black bear. The
latter was almost full grown und larger
than the little brown cubs together. S
he proceeded to bully them, nipplns lh Ir
tails when they ate, tumbling them about,
and ducking them in the water tank In
the middle of the enclosure. Protest dll
them no good, and tho only peace they
ever found was when they crawled Into a
llltle cavity between the rocks, too small
for tho black bear to follow.
Hut while the black bear remained much
the same size, the little brown cubs grew
apace and toon they approached iha ilze
of their bully. For a time loth fl.lt a
seemed unconscious that relations might
soon c hange, put one day the cr'sls came.
The two brown cubs were sleepry Ijl'g
on the b'ink of the water basin. The bhic'.t
bear rolltd sluplers'y In the shade of a
rock ledg.. Fined he rose, waddled oe.
to the tank to drink and then sat down on
his haunches. His yes fell on the two
drowsy cubs. With a snort he rote again,
and then deliberately gave one of the
brown bears a shove Into the tank.
The cub came up on the opposite side
with a howl. His pirtner gave a respon
sive howl. Then both charged the black
bear. Thero was a momentary souffle, an
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A HOXINO
ursine yell nnd the black bear went Into
tho tank. He rose after Ills Inv.ilun ary
dive and tried to crawl out, but a b own
paw came down on his ncse with mch fo:c5
that he tur.ni d to the other side, giin
he tried to crawl out, but again a powei fill
rap on his head snt him back. Again nnd
again he tried to rtgain the reck br nk
each time he was pushed back. When
ever he made an attempt the two brown
cubs were on hand to knock him down.
Finally, the keepers came to tho rescue,
but ever after that there was no mora
bullying done by the black bear.
Some years ago there was n prpul.tr
pleasure resort In San Francisco ralltd
Woodward's tlardens. It was established
by Mr. Woodward, an early pioneer, and
he Imported a large variety of wild ani
mals. The gardens flourished In popular
favor, for Mr. Woodward conducted them
on a nonpaylng bat-Is.
Finally, he died and the property fell
Into the hands of persons not so Interested
in collecting wild animals as he had been.
The animals died off as the years passed
and were not replaced. At last only a few
were left, among them two big African
lions, confined In cages that faced each
cither.
The enmity ol these hearts had been well
known for years, but they had only been
nbl'3 to express their mutual hatred by
roars und snarls, cr by glaring con
temptuously across the grounds.
In t lie end o:ly theee two survivors ot
a once la'ge community, were left. All
the other cagt-s weie empty. Local news
papers urped through their editorial col
umns that the two survivors ought to be
painlessly put out of the way, In order tc
end what had become a miserable public
iH-clu:'le of cruelty to unimals. The end
came sooner than was expectej.
The cages stood in the open air, In a
great circle about an arena where trained
animals had pt rfoi nieil feats In the old
days. One bright moonlight night some
bod opened the doors of the cages of tlx
two lions, in a spirit of mischief, prob
ably. The gardens were deserted except
by gome keepers who had grown old with
them.
Tin se kecptrs heard n roar In the arena
One of the lie ns stood in tho moonlight,
his mane bristling, his head thrown up.
The old men closed the big gates to the
street, but dared not enter the arena. Tin.
keepers looked on from the top of an oil
cage.
Another roar answered the lion's tin i
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SING ANTELOPES.
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KANGAROO.
lenge; his old enemy came limping across
the open space. For some time they
crouched opposite each other, their tails
switching from side to ride. Then, with a
Klmullant-ous roar, they rushed upon each
other.
The tight was nhort. The old beams
were not etiual to the excitement of such
an encounter. When morning came they
were found dead tho last of Mr. Wood
ward's uncu famous menagerie of wild uni
mals. Thero Is a small town In Colorado wltojo
ambition it has been to possess a zoological
park. So the municipality laid out soma
land for the purpose. Land was easy to
get, but when It came to gathering in the
animals, the iiuotion became a complicated
one. Finally the olllcials got together
some coyotes, two tame wolves, a wild
cat, a black bear and an old buffalo bull.
It was the tamest collection of wild beasts
that was ever put together, excepting, er
haps, tho buffalo. He still labored under
the delusion that he could boss things as
he had done years ago in his youth.
Some time after a circus came to tha
town, and before It could K't out became
financially embarrassed. The municipality
was thus enabled to buy at a low prlco
various specimens from tho circus man
ager. Among the purchases was a boxing
kangaroo.
Next day the animals were taken out to
the zoological park. The kangaroo was
put down into the same enclosure with the
buTalo, it being supposed that the exten
siveness of the space would prevent trouble
between tho two.
lint tho old bull challenged the kangaroo
at once to mortal combat. At first the
Australian tried to avoid the American
and cleverly dodged, but finally tho buf
falo's repeated charges became too fiery
to lie ignored. Then the kangaroo rose to
anger and the two came together.
They tore alxiut the paddock for fully
an hour, the buffalo bellowing and at
tempting to gore his adversary, but not
succeeding- The kangaroo landed blow
after blow with his hoofs on the bull's
face, his training coming to the aid of bis
natural ability. It was an old-fashioned
bull fight, with the kangaroo as the torea
dor. ISy evening the buffalo retired to a
corner of the enclosure, thoroughly con
quered. The boxing kangaroo had knocked
him out according to the white man's
methods. OWEN SAUNDERS.
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