ZOO NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2018, 27 March 1914, Page 10

ZOO NOTES.

WAYS OF THE WICKED KEA,

AN ANONYMOUS LATER.

THE EAGLE AND ITS VICTIMS.

[By John Crewes, President of the .Wellington Zoological Society.] _,

A South Wellington clergyman has | kindly directed my attention to a let- j ter which, on January 3, was published I in the Bristol "Observer." The let-1 ter is signed "Clii'tonian," is.said to I have been written at Tikokino, Bawke's ! Bay, New Zealand, on November 16, J 1913, and is headed "Birds in New Zea- j land.' Tho Notorious Eea." The writer says: "Among thft many birds in New Zealand which have become a post to the squatter, perhaps the. worst of all is tho notorious kea. It is a 113-. tiyo bird, and is found in the South Island. As far as we know, there are only two of these . birds in, the North Island, and they are in the Zoo, Newtown Park, Wellington." Beseriliihg the bird, the writer says: "Oa the whole, it is rather a pretty bird; but it is very, wicked, if it is wicked t*> kill the squatters' sheep." Then, describing the "business methods" of the kea, tho writer tells us that the kea. "flies over a flock of shec-p, selects a fat one, and alights.on its back. Pandemonium reigns. .Panic seizes the whole flock. They. Tush away over hill and dale, and many are killed by falling over precipices. The sheep with the kea on its hack is doomed. The bird sits tight. The sheep runs until it is exhausted, and then drops down. The kea tears off the wool, and picks a hole right over the kidneys. It then eats the kidney fat, but docs not touch ai-iy flther. part of the sheep." Now, Ido not vouch for the accuracy of "Cliftonian's"' description. I quote it that some of Jay friends, who seem to hold a. one-sided view of some things, may be reminded that there aro two sides even to a zoo, and that promoters of zoos are not vnikind. Some of my friends do riot like to see birds confined in a zoo. TteE friends say "Pity tho poor keas and release them." But what about' the lambs? What about tho broken-legged sheep that have been frightened oyer the precipices? I hold that it is kinder to keep the keas on a vegetable diet m a zoo, than to Keep'them out teariftgthe fat from' kidneys of defenceless littlo living lambs: An Anonymous Letter on Eagles.

In tho course of in? life, which lias been rather long, very public, and some* what stormy, 1 have received but very few anonymous letters, and the few f have received I have hastily burned. But a few days ago 1 received an anottymous letter marked "private" that interested mo and moved mo to think. As far as I can recollect it is tho only anonymous letter on kindness to animals, written in a kindly spirit by an adult i that I have over seen. Generally an. anonymous letter en kindness to animals rominds mo of what tho old Puritan divine said of tho man who whipped his ; boy for swearing, but ..swore while Hogging him, that tho mail did more harm by his ejtamplo than ho did; good by. the correction. Too many anonymous writOrs on kindness to • animals seem more ; eager to inflict pain on a man than to befriend tho beast injured by him. But the unique letter received by me has no uXkindnoss in it. .It begins thus: "Always reading yournet-as with the- greatest interest whenever I have ecme across them, I was so grieved to see that you woro pleased, to rooted having acquired two eagles. Poor creatures 1" And towards the end of the letter thews is this pathetic appeal: "Please don't buy any more eagles." Now 1 believe that-1 feel as kindly towards animals as any person feels. In fact, the writer of the letter that I. havo quoted from says: "I am sure that personally you are most kindly in disposition." Yet I cannot promise v to buy no more eagtes', Tho writer ■• to whom 1 am referring visited a zoo, and "the eagles there ! were enough to inako_ anyone's heart acho; they looked abject and utterly miserable." But I submit that it is not fair to suggest that because the eagles ■ there looked abject and ■ miserable we must infer that all the eagles in zoos everywhere and always are abject and miserable. As far as I know every bird in a zoo or out of 'zoos has in each year at least one pea son of abjectfress and misery.- It therefore is not fair to assume that because, at one time eagles in a zoo are mopish, they are so at all other times. We know, also, that the condition of birds depends considerably upon food. Hungry eagles attacking a swan are much more lively in appearance than gorged eagles that, after a fast, have feasted unwisely but too well. Well-fed eagles in a zoo might be most happy when least sprightly. It is known also that tho condition of animals in a zoo depends considerably on tho condition of the visitors that look at them. In a note to the guide to the London Zoo it is written; "It is to be remembered that animals are not only moro healthy, but more interesting and beautiful when they acquire cotift deuce in their surroundings,"' And wo may safely say that animals in a zoo acquire cheerfulness, as well as confidence, from their surroundings. It has been said that "the golden eagle is easily kept in. confinement, becomes tamo and even familiar with its keeper." It should be remembered also that sometimes eagles, when they are ,quict and apparently listless, are not miserable. In their native haunts they may be seen "perched on somo rocky point or withered tree" .unconcerned, motionless, and statuedike, in storm and calm. I submit, then, that eagles in zoos are not necessarily miserable, that they arc naturally rather tractablo, that if treated kindly they tako an interest in their keepers, ami regard them affectionately, and tliat if properly fed they should even in confinement be moderately contt'ortable.

Feasting With Blood. Somo of my friends, that would abolish zoos, have overlooked th* fact that as men are spreading they aro killing big birds and beasts of prey, and that tho question to he considered by us is not whether eagles should be allowed to enjoy life in their favourite haunts or be 'confined in zoos; but is whether it is more desirable thai they should be confined in koos or bo killed and burned, or perhaps _i.Kirue4 alive, as many have been. It is. well known that eagles will not cat carrioii if they can got living flesh. The tawny eagle seats his callow brood High on the cliff, and feasts Ms young with blood. It is wclf known also that, if they can, eagles during their inctttetioii period, and while rearing their,young, will kill and carry to their acrte, or carry to their aerie and kill, a Quantity of food that, is scarcely credible-. Lambs, swans, geese, young deer, hares, rabbits, in fact, most of tho living animals that it can find and carry. I admit that to see an eaglo in his glory wemust see him breaking tho pinion of a royal swan, or driving terrible talons into the fluttering heart of a friahtevecl hare, or tearing tho quivering fibres of defenceless fawns, and drinking the warm blood gushing from their veins, but as civilisation extends, and the settlement of men on lands is pushed furward, tho depredations of eagle's must be checked. Of course, my ki«d friends do not say pity the poor eagles out in tho wild, but I ask, What of the poor fawns and hares, and swan, and grouse, etc., etc.? Eagles property fed, in", commodious aviaries, in which they can stretch their iviugs, modify their

savagery, tone down their appetites,. learn to lovo their keepers, and serve as models lor artists and object-lessons for New Zealand students, should be moderately comfortable white earning tins right to live add bo admired. The kindness of my friends, who would rather see eagles in the wild than in a zoo, and the equal kindness of sonic of my other friends, who would abolish zoos and shoot all eagles, is rather too extreme for'me, and 1 enn neither commend it nor be controlled by it. Eagles Ahoy! The two eagles pijrcliascd by my society arrived by the Ulinmroa. Tboy have recently weathered three voyages: but when Mi". Castle, the secretary and treasurer of onr society, and I looked at the magniiscent birds, in their coops, they seemed tine, strong, clear-headed, bright and sensible, . ready ■ to take tiiiiigs as they come,, and bo as happy as possible under changing circumstances. That their appearance was eagerly awaited is evident. When Mr. Castle raug tip tile shipping company, arid asked whether tho ixigies had arrived, he was told that they had, and had been sent up to the 200. _ And said the shipping company's intelligenes department, to Mr. Castle, "Yoii aro the t-weaty-third person that has rung tip inquiring about those eagles." | treat improvements.

Of course, my last week's Zoo nates sunt a large number of persons up to the Zoo last Sunday afternoon. "I didn't know that such alterations had been made up here until I read ysuf notes in Tub Dominion," . said one Kentlctnau' to teo "Where- are tho frizzy geese? is that one?" lie asked, as ho pointed to a rather dilapidated Muscovy duck. "Oh, no," 1 said, "here they are," as tho two Sevastopol geese earns near enough, for us to.notice their remarkable, split, silky, twisted, spiral and trailing feathers, - He scorn became deeply interested in the geese; and he was also pleased with everything that ho saw in the Zoo. And here I must remark that I was highly gratified to learn that, although some of us disapproved of the- euifchig off of the beautiful part of tlte old Zoo srotuids, to which I directed attention last week, most of niy friends, admit that the loss lias been more tluut compensated for by the improvements that have recently been made in .faffs of the present Zoo grounds. The Zoo isnow much more compact than it was, and the improvement in the show of parrots is something on which I heart-' ily congratulate the curator of the Zoo, and tho Reserves Coin»ittee of the City Council.