Bring ’em Back Alive

Originally published in 1930 BRING’ EM BACK ALIVE by FRANK BUCK AND EDWARD ANTHONY. Contents include: To Begin With …….. . . . . 3 CHAPTER I. Tapir on a Rampage …… 7 II. Giant Jungle Man ……. 18 III. Tiger Revenge …….. 32 IV. Wanted: Two Rhinos …… 48 V. Delivered: Two Rhinos …… 61 VI. Jungle Laundress ……. 91 VII. Holter’s Traps …….. 101 VIIL Chips Lends a Hand …… 119 IX. Man-Eater …….. 130 X. Baby Boo ……… 161 XL Monkey Mothers ……. 173 XII. Ghost of Katong ……. 189 XIII. Elephant Temper …… .200 XIV. Monkey Mischief ……. 221 XV. Loose on Board . . 2 XVI. Mouse-Deer . . W>. . . 6 . _–____, -, * XVIIL Eang Cobra …….. 272 Finally …………. 288. BRING’ EM BACK ALIVE. TO BEGIN WITH . . . It might be well to state at the outset that my aim is not to write a book that will add one more volume to the world 9 s col lection of natural histories or the existing treatises on the habits of wild animals. Whatever I have to say about the peculiarities of different species is incidental to my adventures in the field of collecting. For eighteen exciting years I have been gathering live animals, reptiles and birds for the zoos, the circuses and the dealers. I have brought back to America thousands of specimens, A great many of these were collected for the New York Zoological Park, the Philadelphia Zoological Garden, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, the St. Louis Zoological Gardens, the Dallas Zoo, the San Diego Zoological Park, the Milwaukee Zoo and the smaller zoos located in Memphis, Kansas City, San Antonio, Minneapolis and other cities. Many others were absorbed by the Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Circus, the Al G. Barnes WildAnimal Show, the Sells-Floto Circus, the Christy Brothers drew, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus and other similar organizations. A good percentage of these specimens were sold direct to the zoo authorities and circus owners, the rest through dealers. I have had more than my share of thrills, including narrow escapes. Yet I am frank to say that these close calls do not represent a love of looking Death in the eye. I am not that kind of adventurer. I take no unnecessary risks. When a man oper ates on as big a scale as I do he doesn’t have to look for trouble. No matter how careful one is, something is bound to go wrong when live animals and reptiles are handled wholesale. It is then that experience counts. When I listed all the specimens with which I’ve returned to America since I started bringing’ em back alive I found myself wondering that I hadn’t had more anxious moments. There were plenty, as I have indicated, but on the whole I consider my 4 self lucky. So many live creatures, if they had tried real hard, could have made much more trouble for me. Here’s the list: 39 elephants; 60 tigers ( Royal Bengal, Mala yan and Manchurian); 28 spotted leopards; 20 black leopards; 10 clouded leopards; 4 Himalayan snow leopards; 20 hyenas; 52 orang-utans; 31 gibbon apes ( white-handed, silvery, agile, Hoolock’s and siamang); over 5,000 monkeys of different varie ties; 20 tapirs; 120 Asiatic antelope and deer, including black buck, nilgai antelope, Indian gazette, axis deer, barking deer, hog deer, sambor, etc.; p anoas or pigmy water buffalo; i sla dang or Malayan gaur; i babirussa ( rarest of wttd swine}; 2 African cape buffalo; iS African antelope, including sable, water buck and the rare whiteoryx of the Sudan; 2 giraffes; 40 wild goats and sheep, including Markhor goats, Barbary sheep, Mala yan serow and Punjab sheep; n camels; 40 kangaroos and wal labies; 2 Indian rhinoceros ( the rarest and most valuable wild animals in America as this is written); 40 bears, including Mala yan honey bears, Himalayan black bears and Indian sloth bears; pa large pythons