TEDDY BEARS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21244, 16 August 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

TEDDY BEARS

Australia's Quaint Animals

' I3y J. K. Fia.stiii'-;=»

Australia's Koala boars are ; among the most interesting animal;, in the world because they look «- actlv like the plush. stuffed teddy bears so popular with the little people of New Zealand. And they will always be rarities because they are only found in Australia. Many years ago, these lovely little animals were hunted and slain by thoughtless Runmen. For a period this onslaught on the defenceless bears eontinued. but Australia became , alarmed when the- were threatened with extinction. Nature lovers, not . only in Australia, but in everv ; corner of the globe, protested I against this vandalism and raised I

from the white «um irw; or the* mimm fall ,-ick ami di<.\ Tin.- i.ecessily for a partie.ih" article i,f food a>v,,unt , for the facv that Koala bear.- are seldom found in zoos outside Australia, so-called "white ' and "swamp gum trees are not found anywhere except in south-eastern Australia, There are perhaps a hundred kinds of gum trees crf.wm;: in various parts of the world, but the Australian bear has little use for Ilv flavour -.l' anvthing but the t-.y<» kinds ot i.'iiin frees tumid in in.; limited home area. Kxeepl. on rare occasions the Koala bear is the most harmless and

fund 3 to build a reservation where the bears might live under natural conditions and free of the danger of the "sportsman." The Koala bear, although a distant relation of the kangaroo, is a tree-living animal and not a very active creature. It is as stolid as it looks and sometimes stays in the same gum tree for days leisurely munching the leaves and blossoms between long sleeps, then curls up into a fluffy ball and clings to a branch with its claws. These little bears make charming pets. They become very much attached to their owners and follow them round like dogs. But they must have their diet of gum-leaves

placid of animals, but mature Koalas, when annoyed by humans, go into ungovernable rages and have been known to inflict painful wounds with their teeth and claws A wounded Koala has a cry .strangely like that of a distressed child, and in the days when shooting the bears in great numbers was a sport the Australian forests frequently gave forth sounds like those coming from a nursery full of hungry babies. There is no shooting done in the reservation, for Australia is determined that its amusing teddy bears will not. like so many other beautiful animals, be all but driven to extinction by sportsmen and hunters.