University of Virginia Library

28. Colonial Pets
BY PETER KALM (1748)

UPON trial it has been found that the following animals and birds which are wild in the woods of North America can be made nearly as tame as domestic animals. The calves of the wild cows,[119] which are found in Carolina, and other provinces to the south of Pennsylvania, can be brought up among tame cattle. When they are grown up they are perfectly tame but at the same time very unruly, so that no enclosure is strong enough to hold them if they try to break through. As they possess great strength in their necks it is easy for them to overthrow the fences with their horns, and to get into the cornfields.

The American deer can likewise be tamed. A farmer in New Jersey had one in his possession, which he caught when it was very young; at present, it is so tame that in the daytime it runs into the woods for its food, and towards night returns home, frequently bringing a wild deer out of the woods, giving its master an opportunity to hunt at his very door.

Beavers have been tamed to such an extent that they have brought home what they caught by fishing to their masters. This is often the case with otters, of which I have seen some that were as tame as dogs, and followed their master wherever he went; if he went out in a boat the otter went with him, jumped into the water and after a while came up with a fish.

The raccoon can in time be made so tame as to

run about the streets like a domestic animal; but it is impossible to make it leave off its habit of stealing In the dark it creeps to the poultry, and kills a whole flock in one night. Sugar and other sweet things must be carefully hidden; for if the chests and boxes are not always locked, it gets into them and eats the sugar with its paw. The ladies, therefore, have some complaint against it every day.

The gray and flying squirrels are so tamed by the boys that they sit on their shoulders and follow them everywhere.

The turkey cocks and hens run about in the woods of this country and differ in no respect from our tame ones, except in their superior size and more palatable flesh. When their eggs are found in the woods and put under tame turkey hens, the young ones become tame; however, when they grow up, it sometimes happens that they fly away; their wings are therefore commonly clipped when they are young.

Wild geese are likewise tamed in the following manner. When the wild geese first come hither in the spring and stop a little while the people try to shoot them on the wing. They then row to the place where the wild goose falls, catch it and keep it for some time at home; by this means many of them have been made so tame that when they were let out in the morning they returned in the evening; but to be more sure of them, their wings are commonly clipped.

Partridges which are here in abundance, can be so far tamed as to run about all day with the poultry, coming along with them to be fed. In the same manner I have seen wild pigeons so tame that they will fly out and return again.