THE "ZOO."

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16268, 19 July 1918, Page 8

THE "ZOO."

« PROPOSED ABOLITION. I Bathed, in bright sunlight, what s popularly known as "the animal part" 'of the Acclimatisation Society's Gar- ] dens presented a particularly tranquil, ! happy scene yesterday afternoon, ma ! quite a number of people were spending their . leisure moving among the I cagts and enclosures, watching with deiight the antics of squirrels and rabbits, and gazing with pleasure at tbo peatocks, parrots, seaguiis, aiitl vauous other birds included in the collec- i tion. Although tiiis part of the gardens has admittedly become someivaac dilapidated, yet on sentimental ; grounds, it on no other, it will be a | pity if the collection is abolished, «ts was proposed at Wednesday's meeting of the Acclimatisation Society. Complaint was made at the Society's meeting that the £>üblic treated . the grounds badly, and enquiries on ..his ' point were made by a representative ol "The Press" of Mr Hope, who is in charge. He expressed the - -opinion that the obnoxious small boy was chiefly to blame. A great many fish jsd been killed and poisoned, screens had I been lifted in the ponds, birds nad been stoned (tlitf" monkey also came in for his sharo), others had been stolen— as many as twenty canaries being taken on one occasion—and many other fooliih and mean things done. He had himself seen boys deliberately puil- ! ing up a bed of flowers. Boys were not, of course, wholly responsible, )or some of the misdeeds had evidently been perpetrated by adults at night. Speaking personally, he said he did not i wish to see the collection abolished, but added: "Many., people seem, to |, think that, this-is- a-wwt of zoo, and

not a very' good one at that. "Until the recent erection of the Society's big .'hatchcry, very few seemed to realise that the place was primarily a j hatchery." J Asked as to the manner in which the i public contributed to the upkeep of • the collection, Mr Hope" said that the i box in the squirrel cage received an j avearge of from threte to four shillings per month. He mentioned that aniI mnls of the commoner kind, such as rabbits, jvere often found amongst the collection, and it was evident that owners of pets not infrequently brougat j them along to the enclosures lH ' dropped them in, feeling perhaps uhat : they- had done a gracious act, and, mj cidentally, provided for the welfare and upkeep of their pets in a very satisfacI torr manner. | Mr P. J. De la Conr, chairman of the Society's Garden Committee, I stated, in conversation with the rej porter, that he did not think the public would dbject to contributing fcoi wards the upkeep of the collection, if j asked to do so. Were the collection I retained by the public, the Society ' would still be quite well able to carry I on its acclimatisation work there. Several members of the •Society, however, objected to paying for the upkeep of animals not actually of use for acclimatisation purposes. Just what will be done with the col- : lection will not be known until the Gardens Corrmittee brings down a ie-j port on the matter. j