LION TAMING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5257, 13 May 1895, Page 2

LION TAMING.

A MELBOURNE VENTURE

A PLUCKY WOMAN'S PETS. For ajme time back (says the Age) people ' in Flinders Lane have been in a state of perplexity bordering on consternation. At • periodical intervals their ears have been : assailed by fearful and mysterious sounds proceeding from what was supposed to be a vacated warehouse. The air trembled, and tho more imaginative thought the earth shook. The noises turned out to be

THE BOABING OP YOUNG LIONS j I under tuition. There are five of them, ' - all under three yeirs of age, two inaleß > and three females. They belong to a fairly well-known professional gentleman in Melbourne and his wife, whose "pet" weakness ia so strong that she never fee's really comfortable unless in the society of lions. Having an eye to business, this nervy ccuple harbour a design to convert their weakness in the wild-beast line into financial strength. It may be that they are laying the foundation of an Australian show ala Barnutn. la aoy case they have certainly started a new colonial industry in the form of lion-taming, and the public, will probably be invited a few months . hence to witness Australian lions put ' through their performances by an Australian lady. As a matter of fac k , the lady i* a native of Sojjth Melbourne, and : at least two of the lions are Australianborn. THE OWHIR is in no hurry to dißtlcse bia identity, but when ferreted out the other day be was frank enough. During an interval in hia proper professional career he tasted Bohemian life as a Victorian conjuror in connection with a circus-cum-menagerie entertainment, and took a likiog for wild ' animals. Bu 1 ; years hare elapsed Bince then, and tho old attachment has revived. Thirteen or fourteen mouths ego he pur- : chased a little female cub born at the Melbourne "Zoo," another fro-a the Adelaide Gardens, two imported from Algeria by a Bailor; and "one from a travelling circus. These were, when purchased, only as big as their heads are now, and he and his wife have reared them as pete. It is said that circus lions are frequently trained in too 1 much of a hurry, and that haste involves ' cruelty, such as poking red hot iron bars : into their mouths. Tno cubs in question ■ have never yet been chastised with any- \ thing more severe than a lady' 3 riding '• whip, and although uncompromising in their fierce demeanour towards strangers, j they aro most decile, obedient and j affectionate towards their master and ' mistress. THE MOBT ADVANCED OF THE LOT is the lioness cubbed in Melbourne. It U named Psyche, and already measures ten I feet from tip to tip. Psyche has a flue \ St Bernard dog as a cago-niate, and the j two are alwaya .full of /ua and frolic, ■ excepting at meal times, when the lioness mustnot be molested. The two go through the usual circus performances under the whip of their nvstress, who also handles the lioness with all the. liberty, a housewife can take with her j favourite cat. A week or two ago a young ■ relative of the owner, after seeing n private rehearsal, ventured too near the cage. There was an instantaneous flash I of a furry paw, and the young man had to be conveyed to a surgeon to have the palm of hia hand stitched. Psyche, with allj her dociiity towards her mistress, bears out the statement of an American lion tamer in a recent interview, that "the lioness, though smaller than the male, posßeßßeß more devil to the square inch than any other created being."