75 Crocodiles And Alligators Approved For Zoo At Auckland

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27874, 24 January 1956, Page 19

75 Crocodiles And Alligators Approved For Zoo At Auckland

“The Press" Special Service

AUCKLAND, January 23. The Auckland Zoo is to get the 75 crocodiles and alligators it wants in spite of widely held fears that the reptiles will escape and multiply in neighbouring creeks. The Mayor (Mr J. H. Luxford) has approved the proposal after being told by the zoo director (Mr R. W. Roach) that any chance of the reptiles’ escaping was negligible, and that crocodiles would not survive—and certainly would not breed—out of doors in the New Zealand climate. There had been many protests since it was announced some weeks ago that the zoo intended to import 50 crocodiles from Malaya and 25 alligators from Belgium. But, Mr Luxford

said that the Department of Agriculture, which had the final say in the importation of animals, had already investigated the proposal and granted the necessary permits. The crocodiles, Mr Roach told Mr Luxford, would, as they grew bigger, be placed in a pool surrounced by a concrete wall up to five feet high. The wall would be surmounted by a curved overhang jutting out several feet and would be topped by four feet of wire-netting. It would be necessary to install heated panels to enable the crocodiles to survive. Most of the 50 crocodiles, Mr Roach said, would be about one foot long and would be kept in a glass tank during their first year in Auckland. If half of the 50 reptiles lived to be four or five feet long, the experiment would have been successful.

“Crocodiles and alligators are exhibited in many of the more important zoological parks of the world,” said Mr Luxford. “The Auckland zoo should endea'vour to increase its range of exhibits and so enhance its usefulness and popularity.” “The zoo is like the theatre —it needs top-class' ‘artists’ and new faces to draw the public,” said Mr W. Butler, chairman of the City Council committee which controls the zoo. “That is why we want to import gorillas and giraffes, as well as alligators and crocodiles. Jamuna the elephant has been the star turn for too long.”