Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

 

But Help Came, the Cub Was Rescued and the Boa Was Slain.

     A boa constrictor will swallow anything at all when it wakes up hungry and finds that dinner is not ready. This is the story of a boa which swallowed a cub lion whole. The cub was recovered by an operation, but the swallower died. The operation was the simple one of cutting the snake in two, and nothing discourages a snake more than that.

     It happened in Argentine, Kan., in Lemon Brothers’ circus. The big boa woke up hungry, and there being no one around, the reptile began casting about for something to eat. Nearby was a cage of lions, including a cub. The cub was sleeping close to the bars. The tail attracted the boa’s attention. If man eats ox tail, why should not cub’s tail make a good supper for a hungry boa? The boa swallowed the tail. The cub did discover the fact, but slept calmly on. Perhaps the snake liked the sample and concluded to eat everything in sight or possibly it discovered too late that the tail was fast to the body, and decided that the easiest way out of the difficulty was to eat its way out.

     Owing to the formation of a boa’s asophagus and stomach, food which once passes the throat cannot return. Spreading its jaws to their utmost capacity the boa swallowed at one gulp the hindquarters of the cub. Then the cub awoke, and objected to playing the role of Jonah to the snake’s whale. It cried and its mother awoke. The old female lion took in the situation at a glance. The snake took in more of the cub, until only the forequarters and head were left outside. The cub’s dam roared and woke every animal in the circus. The lions, tigers, hyenas and wolves roared and howled. Monkeys and parrots chattered, the elephants trumpeted and made frantic efforts to break loose.

     It is characteristic of a menagerie that whenever anything out of the ordinary happens, all the animals take a personal interest in it. The turmoil aroused the keepers, who rushed in to ascertain the cause of it, and quiet the animals. They quickly saw the cause and rushed to the rescue. The snake tried, literally, to back out, but he could not. It was hard to tell whether he had the cub, or the cub had him, or both held each other. Some of the men seized the snake, while others took hold of the forelegs of the cub and tried to pull him out by main strength. But he would not come. On the contrary, he showed a tendency to slip further in.

     The men saw that it was a case of the life of the cub or the snake, and as lions are worth more than boas they quickly decided which should be sacrificed. One of them got a knife and cut the snake in two with a single sweep of it. Then the cub was extricated not much the worse for spending a short season in a snake’s stomach. The boa usually winds himself about its victims, and crushes their bones before swallowing them, but this one was in a hurry, and omitted this preliminary. That was where he made a mistake. Had he done so his life would have been spared on the theory that a live boa is better than a dead lion.