EFFORT TO COLLECT N.Z. FAUNA FOILED

Chronicle (Levin), 10 July 1946, Page 3

EFFORT TO COLLECT N.Z. FAUNA FOILED

Al'CKLAXD. July 0. The cJTects m tliu Auckland Zoo ot ulial ku duscribud as "titi1 crip|ding obMruct ion oi local burca ucrac \ , wcre outliued l»y Colonul -l'h 11. Sawor, ruratur at tlu* zuu, ia his aiuiual repoit prerfunted to the Vity Cuuncirs parks coiiunittee. Colonol JSawer IjrielL trueed the diliicultios that liad been uxjicj'ieueed by llu; zoo over a liumbcr ot' yoars and said that ui'tei" the out break of war, an el'forl lo roplace ioreigu exliibits whieh wero ao longer availubJe, by a eoinprehensh e culiecliou oi X e vv Zealand l'auna, was inade abortive by depart liiental aetiou. A plantatioii of berry and nectar-hearing shrubs and trocs had been establishud in llUIU to provide nativc song-birds with tlieir liatuval food and shclter and was now avuilable for those purposes. said Colonel Sawor. I'erniits to colieet any speeies inelnded in the proleeted list under the Aiiimal Proteetiou and CJaine AcT, wero, howevcr, categorieally refused. Xot oue in ino of the sehool children in the nieiropolitan area will tlicrefore ever see or liear a kiwi, tuatara, tui, bellbird, native pigeon or pejiguin. "Zoological l'ark is denied the privilege of giving sanetuary to speeies Ihreatened with earlv exlinction, ' he said, ' 4 Avhile hundreds of the few surviving kiwis are aniiually destroyed by dogs or venniu. Tho eouneil has been ret'used pormisiduti oveu to receive in.jurcd birds for treatnient. Tlie docnniented eharge that Wellington Zoological Gnrden.s have been able to'exliibit a liumber of speeies denied to

; Auckland, has never been robutted. " lu striking contrast to the crippling ! obstruetiou of local bureaucracy, is the jUttitude of the Australian States," he | eontiuued. "JSpecial Government granls | for Australian sections to includc all j rarer t'orins of nativc life, !ed to iu- [ quiries for X'evv Zealand typos whieh il was desired to include in these special exhibitions. Our correspondents expressed ajuazement at our iuability to obtain sueh material for our own purposes. There was no alternative but a refusal of auch interosting animals as the platypus and koala, in cxcliangc for the tuatara and kiwi. " Colonel Hawer said nothiug reiuaiued but to eonserve the existing animaJ eolleetiou by breeding and control of disease.