The greatest wild animal trader in the world is Karl Hagenbeck of
Hamburg. To hear, therefore, how he captures and transports the brutes
that compose his stock in trade, how he trains them, and some of the
peculiarly strange adventures which have befallen him in dealing with
them, cannot fail to be of interest. A few days ago I went to his
Hamburg menagerie, where, on opening a door, I found myself in a great
shed full of caged wild beasts. As visitors, except those on business,
are not allowed within those notable precincts, my unexpected
appearance excited the cages' occupants to set up a grand concerto of
roars and howls. Awestruck at the sight and sounds, I stood dazed
until suddenly recalled to myself by a Nubian lion, who laid hold of
my cloak-flaps with unsheathed claws. At once I leaped forward, while
the beast retired snarling to the farthest corner of its cage, where
in the dark shadows its eyes glared like two living coals. At this
moment Mr. Hagenbeck came forward and gave me a hearty welcome,
coupled with a word of warning against venturing too near the cages.
He is a tall man, singularly pleasant looking, with keen eyes and a
decisive manner. Later we sat in his office, and there I heard many
incidents of the interesting life which he has led for so many years.
"My father," said he, "who started in life as a fish dealer in this
very town, never dreamed that he would one day be the founder of the
greatest menagerie in the world. But it chanced that, in the year
1848, some fishermen, who usually traded with him, brought him some
seals which they had caught in their sturgeon nets. They were fine
animals, and he could not help being delighted with them, and
straightway resolved to take them to Berlin. There he opened a small
exhibition in Kroll's Gardens, charging an admission fee. But there
came a revolution; business was at a standstill, and he was glad
enough to get rid of the seals for a small sum of money, and to return
to his fish-dealer's shop in Hamburg. But he was bitten with the
wild-beast fever; live animals had more attractions for him than dead
fish, and so he told the fishermen that he would always be ready to
buy any queer animals they might choose to bring him. A short time
after that a sailor from a whaling vessel brought him a polar bear;
this he exhibited here in Hamburg. It was a great novelty, and the
people flocked in crowds to see it. From that time forward, sailors
from all parts of the world would bring him animals for sale--monkeys,
parrots, deer, snakes, and so on; once a young lion. Gradually he got
together quite a small menagerie, but I am bound to say that at first
there was not much profit in the business. When I left school in 1859,
at the age of fifteen, father asked me which of his two callings I
would rather choose as mine. Of course, being a boy, I chose the wild
beasts. He gave me a hundred and fifty pounds to spend as best I could
in buying animals. Fortune favored me from the start. I made some
capital bargains, increased the business rapidly, and in 1866 father
handed the whole business over to me."