EXTRAORDINARY SCENE AT THE ZOO

Colonist, Issue 54, 27 April 1858, Page 3

EXTRAORDINARY SCENE AT THE ZOO

LOGICAL GARDENS, DUBLIN. ■ :' A correspondent of the- Evening Post has given the .following account' of air occurrence'at the Zoological Gardens, 'Phtenix Park, which shews the danger, of approaching too closely to the'cages of the wild animals ;•■" I happened to be one of a party which witnessed the following fearful occurrence at the Zoological Gardens, on Sunday, the 10th instant; We wer« walking along the pond, which is near to the gate-house, when we were startlei by the screams of a number of persons. The sounds appeared to come from the top of a grass-hill, at the/foot' of which we were'walking. We rapidly ascended the hill, and we beheld what none of us ever can forget. A cage, in which two wolves were, wa? on the top' of the hill; a crowd; composed of -soldiers, 'boys, women, and children, were round the cage ; a policeman .was standing next to a man who appeared to' belong to the laboring e'ass ; the laborer was close to- the cage; Jiis hand, from, the wrist "do'wnj was sei'zeJ vn

the wolfs jaws. The wolf had his fore feet 'planted,' iris/nose tighily up against the bars of the cage, holding on to .the unfortunate man's hand, from which the warm b!.oo<V was' dropping' into the brute's numt'i., and. of cour.;e, render-' iugits- thirst for blood more e'ige'r. ■ The police-' man, as anxious as lie cuikl be to succour the poor fe'luv from the wolfs fangs, was bea ing the wolf on-the h-ad with his baton; he would have made just as miich impression with hid bows on a block of granite A'l .around.were st.inding, myseif among' the number, useless, and completely pani -.-stricken, when we. observed a 'gentleman hastening to the frightful scene. He saw. at one glance what was the matter, turned to the laborer and said to him, 'Be quiet, 'my good man; do not try. to p ili your hand from the wolf s mouth.' Then catching Ihe baton from-the policeman, lietwkit" in his two hands—the thick end he held in his right hand, and the thin end in his left—and burning again to the poor fellow he said to'him, " When I push the baton into the wolf s mouth, draw back your hand, till then do not stir it. ..Now, be steady.'' He'then wedged in the baton alongside the hand, and jerking the thin end of the baton up agiuirt the" roof of the brule's •■mouth, he forced it open, and the hand was, as no one can doubt, withdrawn without a moment's hesitat/on.'" The crowd, the moment that. the; gentleman, appearea. and' took the direction, of afJyjrs, stood breathlessly awaiting the Hsue of bis movement^" THe hand' presented :an..awfiil.spectacle..„lt'had aJargei)6!;^,exactly .similar ,to. what ah enSrinous would make, in the centre of the back,'fro;n: which hole the blood was actually spouting as fast a? possiblo. A second bite wus visible on the wrist joint, hi 'front of the 1 land; this-bite did not bleed anything at all in comparison to the other, which: was inflicted by what is oilled the canine;tooth. The po >r man was in agony ; he was brought at once into the council room by the gentleman, who bathed his hand, bandaged it up,.and sent him off in a car to the Richmond Hospital. The gentleman, we learned afterwards, was Dr. Corrigan, one of the vice-presidents of the ZooLogical Society."