Capturing Wild Animals

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3, 21 July 1906, Page 14

Capturing Wild Animals

By

George McLean Buchanan

ONLY those who have had the experience,” said a wild-animal hunter fresh from the jungles of India, ‘’have any conception of the hardships to be endured and the dangers to be met in exploring the wilds of India for the purpose of capturing wild animals. From the minute oi tearing Calcutta or Bombay to the <nd of the return trip, not only are privations necessary, but a man’s life is constantly in danger; for as soon as it is rumoured about that he is in quest of wild animals, the natives know that he carries money, and are ready to mob, rob, or murder him should the opportunity offer. For this reason I travelled with two guards, one of whom kept watch over me when 1 slept, as the ten thousand rupees sewed in my clothing would be a good haul, and the treacherous natives woidd think nothing of committing murder in order to gain possession of it. "But notwithstanding the risk and the faits that I had to’live on curry and rice for the nine long months of my journeys, since the killing of game is against the religious code of the land, and had to endure the discomfort of sleeping on bare ground under the eaves of native huts, the dew being too heavy for sleeping in the open—it was a splendid experience, and 1 am looking forward to a repetition of it next year, even though 1 know well that every step in the. process of capture ami shipping is fraught with difficulties and perils. "To begin with,” he went.on, "the most desirable wild animals to be* had,'”elepjiants ami tigers, are protected by the Government. and unless you, buy them from the authorise!! dealer’s,,which is not the least expensive means, there are stumbling-blocks in. your path. Elephant catching is accomplished by practically one method, and because of this unity of means employed T will skip over this part, of the story briefly. » - ; ' "Vpon starting out from Calcutta, I first engaged the services, of two natives ttijm were to accompany me on the‘;enitre journey. This was it is impossible as you travel alrSut-jtei-. get natives to leave their .own unless they are in the business of acting as guides and protectors. With ’Jthis meagre band of assistants and thft'mqgt limited traveller’s kit possible, 1 .made for the jungles, and..fitter recmnjibi&tng, for a time, soon fbuniFiiativesWvlfqsywiilliFi, under take the eapturg. 'of . ' t\ bile they were off on the hunt,.! busied myself supervising the capture of other creatures of the foresCupon whit-fed had Bet my heart. . .. . .«... ; "The natives are so keen in ftie'lr- detection of various animals that it does not take them long to, locate,the whereabouts of the elephants: and building a small inclosure about four : feet high (over which an elephant never jumps), well concealed on the outside by brush, and having a narrow approach, they cautiously make their way out beyond the elephants, observing great care to be absolve! y noiseless, as the mere breaking of a twig may put the anifnals to Hight. Then. having formed a miniature ‘surround.’ they begin the drive-in by shouts and yells that frighten the elephants forward toward the trap. When the animals are safe within the enclosure? the entrance is blocked, and the capture is complete. ? ■ . « , ’But the next step, ‘tying'it up,’ is far luore prrilyi< than the actual capture, for it is necessary for the natives’ to enter the corral with these loose wild leasts. Several tame elephants, howcyer, arc led into St, so well trained are gese «;tgaci<»us animals that they iinnredmtely set to wbrk ■in pairs,’ HlH r< )unditu» a wild elephant and pinionhi" bdoV between tlieirs’'’thus allowirajjves tie* the .hiikd the captive.;yid the rone to a tree Imut ■ I'wrfll "dfr’tfaePiiiSlfeiiijc*'' >,4 •When all are made ■ gjeat" tug-of-war begins. They pull and tight

for their freedom until completely exhausted, when they fall apparently lifeless to the ground. But after they have recovered from this collapse they rise more reconciled to their fate, and when led off to water in company with two tame animals of their kind the process of subduing is in a large measure accomplished. "All that now remained for the catchers to do was to drive the result of their hunt down to our stopping-place, w hence, ■with my two men and a relay of others that 1 secured to travel a short distance —to the limit of their district, where I must engage another gang—the march began to the nearest railroad station. "AH went smoothly for a time. The elephants proceeded meekly. \\ e had to swim them across the Ganges, as the numerous changes of the course of that river preclude the possibility of bridging. But when within a few miles of the railroad station it behooves us to keep a watchful eye on our captives. With remarkable keenness of the sense of smell and an intelligence that is surprising, they catch the whiff of smoke and rails and intuitively realise the danger. Suddenly they will take flight, madly making for the forest, and once having gained the advantage of a few rods it is next to impossible to overtake them. "If. however, the greatest care is observed at this critical point, the elephant may be brought in safety to the railroad terminal, where the most tedious part of the whole undertaking is to be met. • '"For a wild elephant to board a train of his ow n volit ion is in the realm of The unknown. He simply will not do it, and he exerts all his stubbornness .and strength to avoid it, which is saying much when it is considered that with one blow of his fore paw he can fell a tree a foot in diameter. It is consequently compulsory to deal with them as you would with the little birds that can*sing and won’t sing: you must make them sing. "Constructing a rude and impromptu gang-plank from the railroad timbers that happen to lie lying about (there are no conveniences whatever for this sort of business), 1 thus supplied a means of ’entrance to the box-car that had been Ssitfctrjieketl for my use, and both doors I now thrust open. Then, tying WJvy ropes ' about the elephant’s f<&e feet. 1 managed with the aid of a. large corps of helpers to drag him to the gang-plank. Next, throwing the loose ends of ’the.ropes through the car to the opposite’door, I stationed twenty natives there to grasp them, ready to obey orders. After this, with two assistants. I took my place behind my captive, and armed as we all were with sharp-pointed bamboo goads, began operations. I shouted to the twenty natives to pull on the ropes, and as they drew the elephant’s fore feet from under him! we goaded him from behind, compelling him to move his hind legs forward to support himself from falling. Again I shouted: again vve goaded: again they tugged:.and inch by inch we gradually dragged Mr. Elephant into his prison cell. It was a tedious task, sometimes .consuming several hours, but under existing conditions it was the only means of forcing these strange creatures against their instincts and tastes. \ , " Having -landed him in the box-car, though, troubles \were far from ended.*' The natives have more fdar of ehijdiants than Europeans and Americans have, and you could not hiiV- one vif ,'the-e people t,to enter the. car With a loose elephant,’. . Hence it was jjeeessart' for tne to do the ‘ ty‘ipg. ; up’- act myself. . ' "The of India, artj'also rjot altogether triTstfrqrtliy,' and ;gf-t as Mr. Elephant is hoisted into the ynr. at M^js-hipjitHeijt 'the twenty .elect are supposed fdmbfc? the'opposite door while you make fast the one on your

side, they are likely to take fright and bolt for the open, leaving an easy means of escape for the hard-earned prize, whose ready intelligence conies quickly to his aid. Cleverly pushing the door wider open with his head and trunk, he drops his fore feet on the ground, and kneeling on his hind legs, skilfully lets himself down, a distance of seven feet, and makes a bold dash for his native haunts. So quick is he that he may be down and off a good pace before you can make the circuit of the ear and start in pursuit. .“This trying experience happened to me with one of my elephants, and as I saw this fifteen hundred dollars fleeing from me. soon to be swallowed up in the jungles, I put on all the speed that I could command, and after several rods of chasing managed to get hold of the end of one of his ropes. Holding on for dear life, I continued my flight, until I came to a good-sized tree, around which 1 rapidly ran several times, fastening it firmly, and incidentally taking a piece out of my arm where the rope had rubbed against the flesh. But I did not complain of physical discomforts, for I had secured my prize, and notwithstanding the fact that I had to repeat the whole process of loading him on the train 1 was happy over my successful capture. If no accidents have happened, and your elephant is securely inclosed, you must now perform the risky stunt of tying him to his allotted apartment in the ear. With nearly all of my elephants I succeeded beautifully, always doing my work with great despatch. But one elephant showed fight and refused to go into his moorings. I was behind him. but no amount of goading would urge him into the desired position. He would hot budge an inch. But with the cleverness of his race he soon realised that he eould not strike me but that another means of retaliation remained open to him. Backing slowly toward me, I knew that he intended to crush me. Fortunately I was in an angle of th'e car, and reaching out on each side, slid my legs up over his back, thus escaping as close a call as I have ever had. “ Having loaded and secured my five elephants, which was the number of my first capture, I accompanied them by train to Calcutta, a distance of three hundred miles, covered in the interminable time of four days, since freight is always slow of travel. In the meantime my captives had become accustomed to the machinery and noise of their new surroundings. They had been fed generously with small banana-trees, of which they are fond and which the natives at the railroad stations cut down to order and sell for ten cents, bananas and all. And when our destination was finally reached, they were led off like old farmhorses to water. Giving them into the keeping of some natives whom I hired, I returned to the wilderness to bag some more bis game.

“’ On my second elephant expedition I secured three prizes, and when a large number of animals were in readiness for shipping the eight elephants were led out for their sea trip. Putting a sling about the belly of one of these, the poor creature was hoisted into midair by means of a derrick, and of all the grotesque sights that I ever witnessed, one of these animals thus suspended, pawing the air wildly, fighting with his trunk, screaming blue murder, is surely the most extreme. Fortunately for him, his troubles do not last long, for he is soon lowered to a comfortable place on the ship, while others of his fellows go through the same performance, and after a voyage on the ocean, he lands in New York in the most abject submission. If another railroad journey is necessary to transport him to some zoological garden or menagerie, he willingly boards a train and bows graciously- to the inevitable. Indeed, only a few days of captivity tame him sufficiently for all practical purposes; for he is one of the most intelligent animals in the world.” "And how about the tigers?” "They are all trapped. Have you ever

seen a tiger with aijirook in his taflf Well, he has been trapped and the door of the trap has shut : down on his tail, breaking it. . "Tigers are scarce,, and the price o* them is constantly advancing. I brought home three tigers audlfive leopards. The’ latter are plentiful. I engaged the natives to trap them for me. They explore the forest for tracks, or ‘pugs’ as they are called, in the sandy beds of dried river courses, ami set a trap in the usual path of the tiger. They have the trap, which is simply a large box with a door so arranged as to spring down, well baited with buffalo calf or some other greatly desired dainty that tempts the palate of the coveted beast. "The tiger must always I>e handled with gloves. For travelling purposes, iie must have a cage of teakwood, anything softer than this giving way under his great strength. He must also be well barricaded with close bars. When these, precautions are observed, there is no more difficulty with him, other than supF?ving ii-n wif h an abund.-c -e < f food. I had one narrow escape from one .. of these tigers, and it happened after I had bought him safely to this country. He was in a ear with two leopards and a hyena, each in a separate cage, of course, on his way to a distant city. One night, with a red lantern in hand, I entered the ear to see if everything was all right. I heard a growl, but concluded that one of the animals objected to the red lantern. Stepping over to the tiger’s eage, what was my horror to fiml it in splinter! Then I knew what had happened. The loose animal was right at my back. The fright gave me supernatural strength and alertness. With lightning speed I rushed out of the ear, closing the heavy door rapidly behind me. If I had used a bright lantern, as was my custom, the tiger would have seen me and- sprung upon me. "Besides these, there were dozens of snakes. With them, as with the other creatures that I made captive, the natives gave me great assistance. Frequently they set fire to the jungles, whereupon the snakes 'would run out. They could then be eaught easily by the use of nets, which are nothing more nor less than exaggerated butterfly nets. "The method that;. I; preferred in handling them consisted in the use of a long stick, to the end of whieh was attached a heavy cord, the loose end of the latter passing through a hole in the stick. In this way a sort of slip-noose is formed. This may Ire passed over the snake’s head, drawn tight to hold it firmly, and loosened to allow its escape when it is safely housed in a c-age covered with wire netting.”