It was not uncommon in those days for pioneers to try and tame the wild creatures around them and in fact Gimpy Dawson was once the part owner of a wild animal exhibition which was due to go on a tour to England and Continental Europe.

The “Fierce and Wonderful Wild Beasts of Canada Exhibition” was another scheme of Dawson’s that ended in failure. He had begun by collecting young animals from Native traders and prospectors and raising them in sheds behind the saloon of Gassy Jack. His attempts at taming the animals enough to handle and display them however, were for the most part unsuccessful and he appears to have abandoned the scheme and most of the half- wild animals to their fate, although he was known to have kept a pet crow for a number of years.