DOGS FOR POLAR EXPEDITION

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27913, 9 March 1956, Page 14

DOGS FOR POLAR EXPEDITION

15 TO ARRIVE AT WIGRAM LORRY TRANSPORT TO MOUNT COOK The first batch of 15 huskies from the Auckland Zoo for the New Zealand Antarctic expedition’s dog camp at Mount Cook will be flown to Christchurch by a Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft on Tuesday morning. They will arrive at Wigram about 12.30 p.m. This advice was contained in a letter to the Christchurch Antarctic Appeal Committee from the secretary of the Ross Sea Committee in Wellington (Mr A. S. Helm). Because dog chains ordered by the Ross Sea Committee from England have not yet arrived, the Christchurch committee will need to obtain 15 chains and collars before Tuesday. It may endeavour to get them from Christchurch firms, preferably as a gift. The dogs will be met at Wigram by the Ross Sea Committee’s representative, Mr Murray Douglas, and they will be taken in an Army truck to the dog camp where they will be trained. Guide Harry Ayres, the New Zealand observer on board the Kista Dan. will bring back another 30 dogs from Mawson, the Australian base in Antarctica. The Kista Dan was originally expected at Port Melbourne on March 16, but because of delays through exceptionally heavy ice and rough weather, she is not now expected to arrive at Melbourne until March 26. Chains will also be required for the other 30 dogs when they arrive in New Zealand later this month or early next month, if the order from London has not arrived. The dog pens at Mount Cook were completed last month. Four Army huts for storage and for shelter for the men attending the dogs have been lent to the Ross Sea Committee by the Army Department. Placed in the lee of a hill on the Hermitage side of the Hooker river, on the road to the Ball Hut, the dog camp should be of great interest to those visiting the Hermitage this year. Three large compartments cover an area of 90ft by 40ft, and 10 kennels have been built to house sick dogs or bitches nursing pups. More pups are being bred at the Auckland Zoo, for it is estimated that about 60 will be required. While they are at the camp the dogs will be fed on meat and biscuits. The full biscuit supply for the duration of the camp, representing a donation of £675, has been given by Wellington and Palmerston North firms.