TRAINING WILD ANIMALS 121 
had been completely destroyed. Their lives were rendered 
insupportable, and they acted only in self-defence. 
It is a complete mistake to suppose that carnivores are 
vicious by nature; they are susceptible to kindness and good 
treatment, and will repay trust with trust. 
In my younger days I had plenty of opportunities of ob- 
serving these barbarous shows, not only in Germany but also 
in England; and from the beginning I felt a desire to institute 
amore rational and humane method oftraining. Performances 
with carnivores were first shown in Hamburg many years ago 
by the trainer Batty. This daring man—for the trainer of 
those days certainly carried on his profession in the face of 
very real danger—worked, if I remember rightly, with six 
lions. The exhibition consisted in terrifying the animals, and 
then driving them around the cage so that they were com- 
pelled from sheer fright to leap over barriers that were pushed 
in from the outside. Finally Batty would stand near the exit, 
fire several shots from a carbine, and then retire from the 
scene. The surprising part of such a performance was that 
the animals did not attack the trainer. 
There were, of course, individuals among the trainers who 
treated their animals as well as was possible under the brute- 
force system then prevailing. One of these was a man named 
Cooper. Cooper worked with a large troupe of lions, and 
with such success, that the American circus-owner Myers 
took over both the trainer and the lion troupe, into the 
tent-circus, with which he made a tour through Germany and 
Austria-Hungary. Cooper, an intelligent and experienced 
man, was well aware of the fact that for the successful train- 
ing of performing animals it is essential to discard at an early 
stage from the troupe any animal which evinced lack of intel- 
ligence, or ill-temper—a necessary step if an element of danger 
and uncertainty is not to attach itself to the exhibition. 
Whilst he was working with Myers, this animal-trainer 
had a serious adventure with some lions which he had 
procured from me. I received one day from Myers, an 
