ANIMALS IN THE "RING."

Mataura Ensign, 26 September 1913, Page 4

ANIMALS IN THE "RING."

Mr Oarl Hagenbeck, in his reminiscences, tells the following story : "On ono occasion I had an anxious 10 minutes in endeavoring to separate a hippopotamus and a kangaroo. Next to the 'hij>j)o's' stable was a compartment in which I had placed the largest kangaroo I ever had in my possession. Ono night the kangaroo jumped over its fence into the 'hippo's' peni. I conclude it, must have got frightened over something. The kangaroo landed in tho 'nippo's' tank, which-was empty. "It was one o'clock in the morning when the incident occurred, and when I arrived upon the sceno I could not help smiling, the whole affair being so comical. There stood the monster 'hippo' with its enormous mouth snapping at tho kangaroo down in the tank below. The moment the 'hippo' moved towards the tank the kangaroo took a mighty leap in the air and struck his enemy on tho face with its hind feet, inllicting terrible scratches with his claws. Try as it would, tho 'hippo' could not ■got into that tank nor at the kangaroo.

"Well, to separate the combatants was the puzzle. We did this by fixing up an arrangement by which wo dropped a largo seal net over the kangaroo and tlion drawing in the cords secured ihini. To divert tho 'hippo's' attention, t.ho moment tho net was lowered over the kangaroo one of my men pretended to enter the cage. The ruse succeeded, and the kangaroo was safely released and taken back to his rightful quarters."