‘Do you know what the secret is?’ said Carl Hagenbeck. ‘It is not warmth that animals and birds require. Why, I can show you photographs of my zebras and flamingoes, my lions and my antelopes, standing out in deep snow, and preferring it to a stuffy enclosed den. The secret of how to keep wild animals well is _fresh air_. They must have fresh air. All my lions can walk from their warm dens out into an open-air den. That’s why they are well. Your lion house in London is no good. You have outside cages, it is true, but the animals are only allowed there in the summer months. Must animals be allowed fresh air only in the summer? Certainly not. They must have fresh air all the year round, not hot, stuffy cages during the whole winter.’ These are wise words from the most observing, most successful keeper of live animals in the world. During my inspection of the Handels Menagerie it was impossible to take photographs, owing to the rain and terrific hailstorms. ‘Will you come now and see my animal park at Stellingen?’ asked Herr Hagenbeck. ‘With pleasure,’ I answered, eager to see more wonders. A handsome carriage and pair soon drove up to the door. We stepped in and were driven away. Carl Hagenbeck now told me of his great scheme. He had bought a large property at Stellingen, and here, in two years’ time, he hoped to amalgamate his whole collection in one vast park. On one huge square plot of ground would be the stables for the elephants and the dens for the carnivorous animals, with the training cages in the centre. The whole of the rest of the land would be devoted to buffaloes, zebras, antelopes, deer, ibex, etc. ‘There will be no cages there,’ he said; ‘there will be no bars and no netting. You will stand here and look over a vast plain covered with animals of every description, all apparently in the same enclosure. But they will be separated by wide ditches, so ingeniously hidden by rockwork that it will appear to the eye as if all the animals were in the park together.’ Hagenbeck grew quite animated during the description of his vast plans. ‘In two years I shall spend on this property £20,000. And you know,’ he added, ‘in Germany you can do with £20,000 what you could not do with £40,000 in England, labour and materials being so much cheaper. But we have arrived, so let us get out and have a look at the place, such as it is at present.’ In one large pen there were no less than 102 flamingoes. Such a sight I had never witnessed since I saw the hosts in the lagoons in Egypt. There were some 60 cranes and storks, 100 water-fowl, 50 swans, and 50 various birds. There were 50 deer of various sorts, 18 antelopes, 22 buffaloes, yaks, and zebus, 3 zebras, 2 camels and a dromedary, 8 llamas and guanacos, and some Shetland ponies. There were three sorts of water-buffalo from the Caucasus, Siam, and Egypt.