NEWTOWN "ZOO."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1107, 21 April 1911, Page 6

NEWTOWN "ZOO."

-1 VISIT OF SLR. A. LE, SOEUF. At. a spccial meeting yesterday, the City Reserves Committee extended a hearty welcome to Mr, A. Le Soeuf, Director of the Sydney Zoological Gardens, who has been retained by the council to report on the Newtown "Zoo." Mr. J. P. Luko (chairman of the committee) spoke of the high standing of Mr. Le Soeuf in zoological circles, and expressed a hope that his stay in Wellington would bo a pleasant one. No doubt the result of his observations and recommendations would be for the benefit of an institution which as yet was only in its infancy. Mr. Le Soeuf made a brief speech in reply, and thanked the councillors for their welcome. Speaking of Zoos abroad, ho said that the Sydney Zoo was supported in part by an annual Government subsidy of .£3OOO. Another .£4OOO per aunum was netted by the authorities in tho shape of admission charges. Zoos, Mr. Le Soeuf added, were everywhere self-supporting, except where/ admission was free or free days were provided for. Yesterday afternoon Mr. li Soeuf paid a visit to the .Newtown Zoological Gardens, accompanied by Mr. J. P. Luke (chairman of tho Reserves Committee) and Councillors G. Frost and W. H. Morrah. The party was met at the gate, and conducted on a tour of inspection, by Mr. J. Langridge (head-keeper). It was in 1903 that Mr. Le Soeuf was appointed Director of the Sydney Zoological Gardens. In. 1908 the Sydney City Council sent him 011 a mission of investigation, in pursuance of which be visited most of the larger zoological gardens of the world. Mr. Lo Soeuf holds that tho aim of a zoo should be to have the aaimals living as nearly as possible under natural conditions. "There are limitations, of course," ho said to a Dominion reporter, "but a good deal can be done in this way. By giving an animal as natural an environment as possible you satisfy tho dictates of humanity, and his distinguishing characteristics are in a great measure retained. This, of course, greatly increases his value as an oxhibit." Mr. Le Soeuf maintains that tho humane methods he advocates make a zoological garden a valuable illustration of tho process of evolution. Methods less humane tend to reduce the animals to a dead monotony of habit and expression, and altogether destroy the. educational value of a zoo. The'point upon which he insists at all times is that the individuality and distinctive character of tho various animals in a collection must on all accounts be preserved. It is only where this is done, lie maintains, that the zoo has a real value as a public educational a«et. And Mr. Le Soeuf is equally emphatic in insisting that the only way to attain this essential end is to treat animals with the utmost possible humanity, and make their _ enforced captivity as endurable as possible.