—Lanca»ter Fanning. Saturday. March 23.1068
24
A Harpie eagle, captured in S o u t h children of Mr. and Mrs. Verne Porter,
America, perches on Mr. Fowler’s arm as Lititz R 4, watch the eagle spread her
Robert, (left) Cheryl and Bart Porter, swings at the command of Fowler.
Jim Fowler Of ‘Wild
Visits With County
Human behavior and personality traits have long been
studied and a great deal of research has been going on in
this field. Comparatively few have gone into the study of
wildlife in this respect.
One man who has, for a num
ber of years, gone into the jun
gles m order to make studies on
wildlife, is Jim Fowler, star of
the television program “Wild
Kingdom ” Mr Fowler was the
overnight guest of Mr. and Mrs.
Verne Porter, and family of Lit
itz R 4 last week He and Mr.
and Mrs Porter were class
mates at Earlham College, Rich-1
mond, Ind
Accompanying Fowler were
two of his friends, Arthur, a
five-month-old cheetah, and a
Haipie eagle which he captured
in the Rain Forests in South
America He does not regard
these as pets as we do our dogs
and cats He considers them
well trained examples of wild
life
Contrary to the beliefs of most
people who perhaps judge wild
animals as being ferocious to
ward man, as they see them in
movies, Mr Fowler said that
the animals are quite timid and
afraid Sometimes it takes days
or even weeks to get close
enough to take pictures or cap
ture them He claims that each
species has his own personality
traits and have to be dealt with
in much the same manner as
we deal with human beings
One interesting thing, some
thing which one doesn’t think
about, is that all living crea
tures do go through a stage verj
much like our teenagers do
They reach a point when they
feel grown up and begin to show
signs of assertion. This accounts
for the change in personality of
some animals which have been
trained and suddenly rebel
against the master.
The cheetah, known for his
hunting ability and fast running
in his natural habitat, is one of
the most easily trained animals
“Arthur” is an example of this
—or perhaps he is a little spoil
ed As an overnight guest in the
Porter home, he decided to sleep
with the two boys, who said he
investigated articles on their
dressers, but was quite willing
to relax on their bed. He romp
ed with the children outside and
played on the floor with them—
nibbling their ears and pulling
hair. The only difference they
found was they couldn’t ap
proach him with quick move
ments as they do their own cat
and dog Mr. Fowler stressed
the point that a slow approach
is vitally important
The Harpie eagle, equally as
Kingdom’
Family
well trained, was given a bath
with a hose in the backyard at
the Porter home. Mr. Fowler
said this has to be done at least
every other day to keep the
feathers m good shape and for
the comfort of the eagle because
of his natural surroundings
from which he comes—the Rain
Forest
Mr Fowler, 6 foot-6 inch ex
plorer and naturalist, is a na
tive of Georgia His friendly.
Shown above is Jim Fowler, co-host of the television
program “Wild Kingdom,” holding “Arthur”, a five-month
old cheetah. Arthur is trained to Mr. Fowler’s commands
and makes friends with strangers without hesitancy.
quiet manner of speech- must savagery. His experiences with
perform miracles in his work, them have been the contrary.
One thing of interest aside from Tribesmen in general are eager
his work with wildlife to this re- to make the white man com
porter was how he and his co- fortable and in one instance, the
workers are accepted by tribes- chief of one of the tribes, took
men in the countries and is- him to a witch doctor for a main
lands he travels. Again he said ful back—the treatment was a
that movies usually overplay success.
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