WILD ANIMALS.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1920, Page 11

WILD ANIMALS.

A BIG TRADE VENTURE. FORESTALLING THE GEBMAN'S. A determined effort is being made to transfer the principal headquarters of the wild animal trade from. Hamburg to London. Hagsnbeek's world-famous Zoo at Hamburg lias been let to a movie concern for 99 years, and Englishmen have made up their minds that It shall never again be the centre o£ the world's commerce in wild animals, reptiles and birds, nor of the incidental trade in animal skins, furs, ivory, antlers, horns and skeletons. Already a world-wide organisation has been built up by John A, Jordan, F.Tt.tiJS., F.Z.S., one of the mightiest hunters living, who tracked big game a few years ago with Theodore Roosevelt in the African jungles.. Jordan has the backing of the Earl of Lonsdale, one of the most celebrated English sportsmen, of the Marquis of Tavistock, Admiral Sir Saekville H. Carden, and others. One hundred and fifty zoos in Europe, America and the Far East, it is estimated, have had their cages and paddocks depleted as a result of the neglect. into which they fell during- the war, and a clear profit of £250,000 a year is expected by the organisers of the new venture from the replenishment of these zoos. Demobilised army officers, keen for adventure, are applying by the hundred for positions in the expeditions which are being sent out.

COMRADE OF ROOSEVELT AT THE HEAD. . Jordan himself plans to start about the end of November and will take his wife with him into the African wilds. The projected route of his expedition is across the Cameroons into French Übangi, down the Congo, and to Ujiji in what was formerly German East Africa. He will search especially .for okapi, gorilla, bongo, and giant pig. The British organisation which he heads in an effort to wrest the world's wild animal trade from Germany has already built up feeder organisations in the Malay States, British North Borneo, Senegal, British Guiana, and Canada.

£2,000,000 WORTH OF WILD ANIMALS WANTED.

The market which the British hope to capture is a world-wide one, and one with a great percentage of clear profit. The former German dealers have been cut off for four years, and their animal stocks are exhausted, and are in no position to renew business.

The great German zoological gardens are practically empty. On account of the shortage of meat and fodder, their stock has been killed off, and many o£ the gardens closed. The great Regent's Park zoo in London is in almost as bad condition, and has already placed £lO,000 worth of orders with Jordan. Other British zoological gardens, at Manchester, Dublin, and Clifton, are likewise depleted, and anxious for whatever new stock can be obtained. The celebrated zoological gardens at Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Liege in Belgium are practically empty, the animals having been taken away to Germany, or killed. The Dutch gardens at Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam are very much reduced. Austrian zoos are in the worst plight of all, and, so far, nothing is known of how it fares with the great zoos at Petrograd and Moscow. A large market is also seen in America, and the construction of new zoos, notably the one at Denver, which proposes to rival Hamburg zoo, is expected to increase the demand for African and tropical life. To meet the rush of orders which peace has brought, Jordan estimates that he can sell at once 50 to 60 young elephants at from £SOO to £750 apiece. Giraffe, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, anthropoid apes, roan, sable, and kudu antelope, along with the rarer species of gazelle, are also in great demand. In fact, the world trade in wild animals is expected to run to £2,000,000 a year, of which one-eighth is expected to be profit. The first ten orders which Jordan has received total £IOO,OOO, and it is said that already £400,000 of orders are in sight.

NO CLOSED SEASON THERE. Incidentally, it is hoped to attract attention to Britain's new possessions in Africa. The great zoo which to-day is British East Africa wi 11 be the scene of Jordan's main effort in organising big game shooting parties. There is no closed season on game there, and the dry season, which is now on, extends' to about the end of April, when the rains set in. Most of the shooting is in the highlands, about 500 feet above sea level, the sable antelope being practically the only animal attractive to hunters to be found exclusively along the eoßst. Shooting parties are to be handled just as a party of Cook's tourists are handled. The sport is not one for men without means, for the estimated expense of the average shooting party per montli is £3OO. Beside white hunters, who have to be added to the party, blacks are taken along to act as porters, gunbearers, syces, headmen, askaris (guards), cooks, personal servants, and kitchen boys. Ponies and mules have to be bought, and the rifles and ammunition are expensive. These consist usually of a double-barrelled rifle of about .450 calibre for rhinoceros and hippopotamus, a double-barrelled .300 for lion, a small bore magazine rifle about .318, a double-barrelled 12-borc shot gun, a revolver, a .22 rifle for small animals and birds, with about 3000 rounds of ammunition, including soft-nosed and solid cartridges. The amount of personal kit which has to be taken along is not inconsiderable, either, and a sportsman's license good for a ye«r adds £SO to the total bill.

And still certain extra charges must be added. It is permissible to shoot two elephants, the charge for the first being £lO extra and for the second £?0. Giraffe cost £.lO extra, and it is permissible to shoot only one. Except for animals which are classed as vermin, a license is required for all shooting, and a specified number of each animal is permitted to be killed by one expedition. There is, however, a long list of animals classed by law as vermin, for the shooting of which no license is required. Lion are classed as vermin when found within five miles of any European settlement (elsewhere the number of lion permitted to be killed under one license is limited to four). Leopards, wart hogs, bushpigs, lynx, wild dogs, hyena, crocodile, python, baboon, jackals, small cats of various species, certain monkeys, mongoose, ant bear, otter, badger, etc., are all legal vermin, and may be shot at any time without « license.