#7 The previous fact was not the only case of animal cruelty at Niagara Falls
The old lady testing her stunt with her cat is not just an isolated incident, as when it comes to Niagara Falls, there is a history of animal cruelty that has been documented, and sometimes it is truly frightening how little people used to care about animals. The most notable incident dates back to 1827, when William Forsyth, who owned a tavern in the vicinity of the waterfall, came up with a stunt in order to get more people to visit the area and thus his tavern.
He took a derelict vessel and filled it with animals to bring, only to send it over the falls. This was seen as entertainment, and even if the exact number of animals was not documented, there are a few that are known. The vessel contained at least a couple of bears, one or two dogs, a buffalo, and some geese. Surprisingly, the stunt did attract a lot of tourists—around 10,000 people were there to watch these animals drown. There were even predictions about how many would survive, but most of them were wrong: only one goose survived the ordeal.
Thankfully, we have abandoned these practices, but the history of Niagara Falls is truly dark!
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