The Training of Wild Animals

A trainer and exhibitor recounts practical techniques and experiences in capturing, housing, feeding, and educating wild animals for exhibition, tracing historical practices and offering species-specific notes on lions, tigers, elephants, bears, snakes, and others. He describes early training methods, a young-animal nursery, teaching tricks, staging shows, and the principles behind successful work, stressing kindness, patience, and safety. Chapters explain capture methods, quarantine and housekeeping, dietary regimens, recognizing instinctive behavior and signs of reversion, and precautions against accidents, supplemented by anecdotes, portraits of contemporary trainers, and illustrative examples from his career.