LIFE IN THE ZOO.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1566, 9 October 1912, Page 9

LIFE IN THE ZOO.

~4 , . THE CARDINAL AND HIS MATE-α-fatal quarrel, critics answered' by facts. The Eev. J, Crewes, president of the Wellington Zoological Society, writes as follows:— The flamingoes that Mr. Minchin, the director of the Adelaide Zoo, kindly purchased for the AVellington Zoological So : ciety, and sent on to Wellington, have arrived here; but, unfortunately, bno died on the voyage. Tho deceased was placed in a refrigerator, and in duo course, will, 1 hope, appear in the Newtown'Jluseum. Tho survivor has been placed in the Zoo. The Reserves Committee's Restrictions. .'.evoral of my friends have asked whether the restrictive resolution recently passed by the .Reserves Committee is likely to hinder tho work of tho Wellington Zoological Society. To that tho answer is —Is : o! The society wants tho committee to keep its expenditure on the Zoo within the estimated limits each yeftr, and the Bociety never purchases for presentation, or presents on behalf of any outside pereon, to the city, any animal that has not been carefully examined by tho curator of the 'lio or some' other competent person, and been provisionally accepted by the City Council or its executive officer. Wo have never passed any cut into the Zoo, and-the only two rabbits passed ra through our society were healthy .when they were presented, and are in the //oo to-day as healthy as they were when they .were received, and have beenevCT since.Is the Zoo a Deathtrap? . A wise man is' reported, to' liave said that the Wellington Zoo is an exhibition of cruelty to animals; but' tho saying only confirmed what some observant'men had noticed before, that overy wise man has a weak part; and that too many give undue exposure to their.'weakness. It nas been-i-suggested that'in our Zoo animals livo iuntlor unnatural conditions, that consequently they greatly, suffer, and that the death-rate among them, is very high. Now, in Newtown Park there aro birds outside the Zoo, and birds inside the Zoo. It may startle some good friends who talk learnedly about natural conditions, and unnatural conditions, then, to be told-rbut the opinion expressed by a competent judge is, I think, worthy or that the death-rate among the birds in the Park, outside the Zoo,-last winter was considerably higher than that among the inside birds. '• •■.'"-.' • Facts and Fiction. Weavers of fiction tell'us' that animals placed in our Zoo soon die.- But what say facts?' . In the two years of tho existenceor" the Wellington Zoological Society, there have been, by and through the society', placed in the Zoo. about forty-five animals—by animals I mean .mammals, nnd birds. The mammals number six-r ono rufous-necked wallaby, one'- bridled wallaby, one brown bear, one leopard, and two -rabbits. What have our romantic critics to' say about-these? The animals are all .alive, and in splendid condition., Birds aro more like men and women, they often quarrel, and some of their .quarrels aro murderous In the Zoo therd wos a beautiful Cardinal bird. When he had been there a year or - two a- kind-hearted friend, thought that the lonely .bird wanted a mate. The friend wad not one of the philanthropists whose philanthropy ends in letters to a newspaper. The good matt went ond spent 15s. to get a mato for ; (uCardinal, for awhile the gay bird seemed glad:to have a companion, but later they quarrelled, anil tought, until the mate w;as killed. That was what happened to one of the birds presented through our society to the Zoo. But that was only natural. .-In the bird /world, as in the human World, there are domestic quarrels, industrial disputes, and deadly .fights, taking place with frequency that is very irritating to'those who[have to jay for thodainages."> Only 'a 'few'-aionfhs'iigir'i* Jen.- , tleman who takes an ''birds saw two '-yellow hammers'' fight in Erijlandl* "Neither of them conquered, but as, eoon as i they stopped .fighting both fell: down'dead. There,.under natural conditions, both birds died. 'In our Zoo one cf the two Cardinals is alive to-dayi' keppj , ' and ready to. fight any other .Cardinal that may come; along. Three-fourths of tho animals in the Zoo aro very much happier than animals of the same kinds liv-. ing under natural , conditions.aro. Then surely it is not requiring too much to require that animals shall, in the servico of man, for his education and amusement, bo required to live in conditions in which they aro happier than most of tho members of their own species, and a very great majority of all civilised human beings. . .. .. Where are the Living? Well, of tho forty or fifty,, animals presented by or through my society, the Cardinal was murdered' by her mate; one young ostrich collapsed .within twenty-four hours from- thetiiuo when it arrived in the Zoo, its journey having proved too much for it; another young ostrich broke its leg, as many ostriches under natural conditions'have broken theirs and died; and a few othsr birds have died. But .about forty of the exhibits we. have placed in the ; Zoo are there to-day, proving that when animals are ' carefully stiected, examined, by . a ■ competent practical mail like 3lr. Langridge, and kept as tho. keepers of our Zoo keep the animals committed to their charge,.fha death-rate in tho Wellington Zoo is, on an average,' but' very little' if at all higher than the death-rate of animals , living under the heavenly conditions of the imaginations of visionary, poets, or the hell-fire conditions . of the terrible struggle for existence which is really the , unhappy lot of a very large proportion of the animals that live under so-called "natural conditions." ■ A Galaxy of Beauties, One eminent reporter was positively assured that the Wellington Zoological Society had placed in the Zoo some exhibits, principally birds and monkeys. That- reporter must have a prophetic 6ense, for the society has never placed a monkey in the Zoo; but, as for several months Sir.;lβ Souef. has.been trying to get a pair of Isntellns monkeys for us, we may hope to see in reality what the prophst saw in vision—a pair of very-in-teresting monkeys as one of. our principal exhibits.:-While waiting, for these to materialise,'or arrive, visitors to .the Zoo' may, however, notico that by or.through the society' ■the--following' exhibits, ■ of which we aro justly pioud, have been placed thorc—The brown bear, n, splendid animal; with a. very toman tic history; tho | leopard, the boauty. of wliich 'excited (ho J Tramways. Band t(i collect money to purchase a mate for -tho showy young animal; the wallabic?, (lie o.4riches, -the' laughing jacl;«js(v=, .ibo • mandarin ducks, tbo satin bower-bird, the toxton weaverbirds, tho bronxoriving pigwnt, the green pigeons, a g'jlden pheasant, and tho flamingo. ■-These are all . exhibits" fit to Bhine.in any Zoo.iu the world.. .'■'.■'■ Wellington Weather. The woatber'duriug (he last six months has been broken, and more trying than the weather of Wellington winters-gener-ally.' But Vhat-says the .Zoo? Tht Axis deer, born this winter, is in good condition ; the young phalangev .is in robust health. At the . beginning of winter,- a little marmoset was bom, which is now as strong-and lively a little fellow as any of his kind in "any part of the world. Tiro or'three weeks ago another of tbeso interesting little monkeys was born, and his parents attract much attention by tho deft and kindly manner in which they bond from one to tho other their healthy little offspring. darting about in the ponds; a nes-t of cocka-ti-el psrrakeets have been reared, and may on seen flying in t.bcir open pen. I have been told that young canaries have be«m reared in thmr open aviory. If admit then that, the winter and spring were' exceptionally tryiDg, it must «U> he admitted that in tho- ino-t trying weather that we gfit in Wellington, Newtown Park is a salubrious and pleasant place- for animals to live in. Another Interesting Exhibit. Tho latest exhibit in tho Zoo is a' pair of young Indian antelopes. They are agile , and graceful, and may be expected to become'more beautiful as they grow older. Theso antelopes, .t.bc fintclope oervicapra," are very interesting, :ii the cerricapra. is Uie only scenes in the •wnus 'anteloW