BIRDS AND ANIMALS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 882, 28 January 1930, Page 11

BIRDS AND ANIMALS

DISTINCTIONS DROPPED IN COMMON DANGER FIRE THREATENS STOCK Noah’s Ark itself could scarcely have offered a more varied collection of birds and animals penned into a small space than those outside the shop of J. Walker and Son, bird fanciers, in Upper Queen Street, about 5 o’clock last evening, when fire threatened the stock. Willing helpers carried birds and animals to safety. The blaze began in the basement. Assistants had been in the room a few minutes before and nothing was noticed, but a few minutes after 5 p.m., Mr. Walker noticed a thin wisp of smoke drifting up the stairway. Summoning the fire brigade, he tried 'to extinguish the flames, but without avail. Realising that the stock was m danger of suffocation, Mr. Walker and a number of bystanders seized birds and animals from the fixed cages around the walls and carried them to to the large cages outside. All was confusion for some time. A helper, half blinded by smoke, would dash hastily out and thrust a batch of pigeons into a cage. Then another would bring out pigeons, or ducks, until one cage contained hens,, parakeets, dueks and pigeons, as well as a couple of rabbits and guinea pigs. Ferrets were rescued, too, but fortunately, they were placed separately in a canary cage. The bars were widely spaced and many of the smaller birds fluttered out as quickly as they were put in. The pretty red and grey Java sjiarrows perched side by side with love birds, Chinese nightingales, strawberry finches and New Guinea Nuns, or fluttered excitedly round. The startled ducks added their frightened clamour. Within a quarter of an hour the brigade had the outbreak under control and Mr. Walker was able to begin restoring the collection to the proper cages. One or two birds in the higher cages had been suffocated, and five or six dozen of the smaller birds had escaped and were perched on ledges of surrounding buildings. The loss was not extensive. The building, which is owned by Mr. W. H. Cooke, is insured, and the stock is also covered.