
In September 1928, while the Gays were traveling in Europe, a trainer failed to close a runway while lions,
Ike and
Short-Tail were being moved between cages. The Lion made a dash for freedom, and slashed the arm of farm manager John Rounan at the moment Rounan fired a shot at the animal; the wound required 100 stitches, and Rounan later died. Trainer Joe Hoffman took off after the lion and felled him with a bullet in the brain.
Short-Tail walked into an open cage, and Hoffman was able to lock him in. But
Ike got shot in the leg and ran around the farm in a rage, menacing a cow, a cage full of baby lions and arriving police officers. Ike finally died in a hail of bullets from many guns