46 A HAND-BOOK OF THE MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 



Treatment in health. 



Housing. — As all the larger carnivorous animals are kept in 

 separate lateral compartments of the same house, the remarks which 

 have been made with regard to the housing of a lion apply generally 

 to a tiger also, with such modifications of detail as individual cases 

 may require. Newly captured beasts, for instance, give trouble by 

 refusing to come out during the day, and thereby render it impossible 

 to clean their dens at the appointed hours. This difficulty may be 

 overcome by shutting out the beast at night, when it quietly issues 

 forth from the inner chamber to take the food left in the outer den. 

 If the animal is only shy, but not ferocious, it should be kept out 

 for a day or two or till such time as it becomes absolutely necessary 

 to clean the place. The case is, however, otherwise with ill-tempered 

 and savage beasts. If kept out during the day, they have been known 

 to dash against the bars of the cage with such violence as to mark and 

 injure their foreheads. 



Food, — In respect to feeding also the tiger should be treated like 

 a lion, allowance being, of course, made for any individual taste 

 and idiosyncracy. The garden possessed at one time a tigress which 

 had an insurmountable objection to eating beef. This was attributed to 

 its early habits and dieting on goats' meat. All the larger carnivorous 

 animals are fed once a day, namely, between 5-30 and 6 p.m. during 

 the summer, and between 4 and 4-30 p.m. in the winter. Growing 

 animals or those that are out of condition are fed twice. Once a week 

 they are either starved or kept on half diet, and experience has shown 

 that this system is beneficial to their health. They sometimes volun- 

 tarily abstain from food for three or four days without suffering in the 

 least. On such occasions, as has been already remarked, some change 

 should be made in their diet to sharpen their appetites. Having 

 finished their meal, the carnivora drink the water which is always kept 

 in their inner chambers. It is necessary to be very particular in 

 providing good and sufficient water, as they drink much and often. 

 Flowers of sulphur are occasionally given them either in their food or 

 in their water. Sometimes a small lump of it is kept in their drinking 

 vessel. Sulphur acts as a tonic for almost all animals in captivity. 



It is necessary to mention here that the buckets used for distribut- 

 ing the food to these animals and the trays used for conveying the 

 meat from the slaughter-house should be washed every day with soap 

 and water, as otherwise they become not only dirty, but offensive to 

 the smell, tainting the meat. 



Breeding. — Tigers have several times bred in the garden. The 

 first event took place in May 1880 — the female of the man-eating 

 tigers obtained in 1878 giving birth to three cubs. The interval 

 between the delivery of the first two cubs was only half an hour, and 

 that between the second and third an hour and a half. No prepara- 

 tions had been made, and even the obvious measure of removing the 

 male had not been adopted. This, however, was carried out as soon 

 as possible, and should always be done, as the males of some of the 

 mammals, and of Felidce in particular, have a decided propensity in some 

 cases to devour their offspring. To ensure perfect solitude and stillness 

 at a time when the tigress was naturally irritable, the cage was barricaded 



