I have already cited one cardinal rule recognized by all animal
workers. There is one other just as universally accepted by the
fraternity of trainers. This is, that any animal which has inflicted
injury on a trainer must be punished until completely subjugated. This
punishment must be given, if possible, by the one whom the creature has
injured.
No doubt more than one trainer who has been half killed by a
treacherous animal has been inclined to overlook this chastisement
after recovering from his injuries. This, however, is regarded as
professional treachery, for it is practically certain that the
rebellious animal that is not chastised in this manner will kill the
next man who enters its cage. To neglect to show the brute which has
injured you that you are its master is therefore, according to the
ethics of the profession, a deed of cowardice, and a sure way of
bringing disaster upon any other person having the hardihood to trust
himself in the power of an animal that has "downed" its trainer.
Of course some trainers are killed outright, and others are so disabled
in severe encounters that they are absolutely unable to continue in the
service. Then the duty of inflicting the chastisement falls upon a new
man, and you may rest assured he never looks forward to the job with
any particular pleasure. There is but one course, however, and that is
to beat the creature until it howls for mercy. Occasionally an animal
famed for its splendid performances is suddenly and without any
apparent reason retired from the program. As a performing animal is
worth many times as much as one that has not been trained, this would
seem a strange and unbusinesslike course on the part of the management.
The outsider would immediately ask: "Why not continue the performance
with this animal so long as it does not kill a man or conduct itself
more savagely than many others of its kind which have the confidence of
trainers and performers?"
The answer is very simple: The man handling the animal and knowing well
its character has been able to discern a radical change in its
disposition. He declares that the brute is no longer to be trusted, and
any wise and humane showman who receives this kind of a warning from a
reliable and efficient trainer or performer will retire the brute in
question to a cage and leave it there. On the other hand, some animals
which have tasted blood, and even "killed their man," are continued in
the service. Why? Because the trainer who goes in to chastise them
believes that he has been able to beat the animal into a permanent
state of penitence, humility and wholesome fear, and to effectually
obliterate the sense of triumph in the mind of the creature.