NATURALIST ABROAD

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 190, 10 May 1934, Page 9

NATURALIST ABROAD

Collector of Animals For Zoos LIFE OF ADVENTURE A naturalist and collector of wild animals for zoos, Mr. H. Edgell, who was at one time manager for Carl Hagenbeek, the famous animal dealer, arrived from Sydney by the Wanganella on his way to England. Mr. Edgell, who spent some time in Australia trying to persuade the Commonwealth Government to allow him to take two platypuses and two kookaburras out of the country for exhibition in the London Zoo, met with a flat refusal by the authorities. He was told that Australian animals and birds were not for export. “Even kookaburras, which are common, may not be kept in captivity, according to the Australian Government,” he said yesterday. “I have never met with such obstinacy anywhere. That certainly broke me up. It was nothing but pure cussedness.”

One of tlie highlights of a life of adventure came when Mr. Edgell was in charge of a consignment of wild animals from Africa en route to St. Louis. The ship, named the Kurfurst, was in fact a Noah’s Ark, so varied was the strange company of birds, lizards and animals on board. Mr. Edgell’s menagerie included thirty zebras. which he was taking to a St. Louis exhibition, there to train them in tlie view of the public, tlie idea being to find a market for the animals. Disaster overtook tlie Kurfurst when she struck the rocks off Cape Sagrez, Portugal. For two days and three nights Mr. Edgell remained with the derelict ship striving to save his charges. In a measure he was successful, for he was able to arrange for tlie rescue by fishing boats of eight zebras, beside other animals, birds, and a few of the reptiles. “But.” he said. “I was particularly happy to have rescued a very rare animal. a species of bush buck called ‘tragelaphus speekei.’ This was the first of its kind ever taken alive, and it was captured by a British explorer in German East Africa, Mr. Russell Roberts, who was hunting at the time near Lake Moero.

Soon after the floating zoo had been rescued —or most of it had been rescued —Mr. Edgell departed with it for England. So anxious was he to safeguard the animal with the queer name that he kept it in his bunk for the duration of the voyage to England. “I am very fond of animals, you know,” he explained to newspapermen, who showed some amusement. Tragelaphus speekei finally found a home in the London Zoo.

Mr. Edgell wanders over the world where fancy takes him. His only companions are a faithful New Guinea cockatoo, a rare fellow, which has accompanied him on his travels for 19 years, and two Australian terriers, “I don’t know quite what I’ll do when I return to England.” he said. “Probably I’ll breed shooting dogs and set up a small zoo of my own.”