| Show degradation OF ANIMALS while a menagerie la Is ft A very amusing and instructive institution and necessary for the education of the people there is something inexpressibly ib X sad in the moral degradation which chic the animals undergo as soon as they are in captivity some of the noblest of them will stoop to any indignity in order to secure a peanut the distributors tribu tors of peanuts and buna little reckon of the ruin they are working perhaps no animals character suffers more by this means than that of the elephant the greatest and strongest of existing animals the most intelligent and the most dexterous he will keep his big mouth open half an hour for the sake of a bun and if he cannot obtain it in that way he will go down on his bis knees has he no sense of dignity or self respect left apparently not yet he has the feelings feeling of gratitude and revenge very strong in him and it is said that in india where he leads a life of useful and honorable labor he bb will not stoop to such tricks the close confinement reduces him to the level of a lapdog the indian elephant it should bere be remembered to is the only one that lias has much intelligence and can be made either to do tricks or to labor the work of degradation among the elephants should cease perhaps a remedy for the present state of things might be found by allowing them to carry visitors around the park it is well enough that buns or auy any other not unwholesome food should be given them but that they should be mado made to blow their nes wag their tails close one eye or go down on their knees if intolerable then there are the polar lar bear and the grizzly bear bills they have sunk stink nearly as low as the elephants these animals by the way are the only ones provided with decent habitations from their own point of view they have a cage about thirty feet high fixed in the rock iu in which there are two civco to ro these they can retire to sleep tat at or hibernate me cage is divided into two parts one being for the black and the grizzly and the other for the colars inthe in the middle midd leof of the gri grilly and black is a liole with a platform on top of which every infant knows the purpose one pathway leads aaa at the front of the cage and another past the biek back thirty feet above so 60 s o that a I imon arkon can go on the top of the cage and the bottom the bear can do the same havig hamiag an iron ladder to help him up tip the wall of rock which forms one side bide of his habitation it only helps him for he be will not trust his bis person entirely to it but ant usually keeps the latter and giaver ht aver portion of it on the rocks and propels himself with his front paws on the rungs of the lad ad der it is most entertains enter taini ng to see him come down backwards from the top of the rock to the ground to return to the subject of the bears moral degradation in his bis natural state lie ho will not permit the presence of a man within a of several mile and will fight with an unmatched ferocity feroci cy in this cage cewill he will shuffle in the most copt undignified manner from the back to the front of it on account of a peanut peanuts are the most frequent causes of the bears du de gradation but this fiercest of all american el an beasts will do such antics for pie the polar the most powerful bear is remarkable for its parental and domestic affections the female will protect her cubs as long as she has life or defend their bodies if they are killed first yet here a polar mother has been known to snatch a gingersnap from her cub at the menagerie the children often place cakes on the stone just outside the bars bar and the maritime maybe may be seen in a frantic attempt to hook them in with his big immense paw it ia 18 a deplorable spectacle the cat animals are not allowed to accept food from visitors but it is probable that in most I 1 instances they would refuse the lion and the tiger would be highly incensed if sweetmeats sweet meats or trifles in the way of food were thrown at them they would indeed accept bouldi with pleasure leasure a joint of meat but they would not stoop to antics to obtain it it is pleasing to observe by the way how calmly the cat animals resign themselves to a state of thiap they cannot alter ra for or the supposed good of their health they are made to go without their dinner on sundays sunday 9 they make no particular noise dolse about this although it is certain they object to it strongly their ordinary feeding time during the week is two in the afternoon if the butcher should be ten minutes late they knific biff howl how stand upright and try to force their noses between the bars in the course of an hour if the butcher still failed to appear pandemonium would reign in the house these animals know very well when sunday la Is come and they are very thankful it comes but once a week new york sun |
