A REMARKABLE PET.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue X, 28 August 1897, Page 319

A REMARKABLE PET.

Thirty years ago a curious and well-known sight on the streets of Berlin was Von der Madliern with his tame leopard, says Our Animal Friends. Baron Von der Madliern. when a young man, was for several years German consul in Egypt. While there an Arab friend presented him with a young leopard. It was only a few days old, its eyes not open yet. The young baron determined to make a pet of the leopard, and to train and treat it like a dog. The leopard was never confined in a cage, but was always allowed full liberty, and was well fed and petted. He slept on a comfortable rug in his master’s room, and if the night was cold crept upon his master’s bed and shared it with him.

He grew by-and-by into a handsome creature, one of the largest of his species, and finely marked. When he had been in von der Madliern’s possession about two years the baron was recalled to Berlin, aad took the animal back with him. In Berlin the leopard occupied the same place in his master’s house that he had done before, and followed the baron about the streets in the same way. At first the sight of the savage creature stalking solemnly along beside the man created quite a sensation in the city, and people crowded to see him pass. But it grew to be an everyday matter, which only attracted occasional notice from strangers or children. ‘There go the baron and his leopard,’ they would say, and that was all. Old Berlin residents still remember the leopard, and speak of it even now.