A MUCH-BITTEN MAN

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 124, 26 May 1923, Page 14

A MUCH-BITTEN MAN

NINETEEN YEARS AT THE

LONDON ZOO,

After 19 years as superintendent and curator of mammals at the London Zoological Gardens, Mr. R. I. Pocock, F.R.S., retired on 20th March, states L.G.M. in the "Daily Mail." Chief among the changes which marked his term'of office were the "open-air treatment" for animals and the adoption of anaesthetics for operations on the captives.

"I once saw a jaguar roped and hauled to the bars to have its claws cut," he said. "After- watching the long struggle, which left the poor beast exhausted, I consulted the - veterinary officer as to designing a chloroform cage." The most extraordinary thing Mr. Pocock ever saw was in connection with this first experimental cage. It was only 18 inches wide, and a fine tiger, about lift long from nose to tail, was put to sleep in it. When the slide was opened for the operation it was found that somehow the great beast had turned clean round in that 18 inches, and its head was where its tail had been.

Mr. Pocock'has been bitten, pecked, and clawed by every variety of creature: one of the most severe blows coming from a goose. He once released a pinioned vulture in the deers' enclosure, hoping it would enjoy the open space. As the deer attacked the bird he entered to save. it. The vulture gripped his thumb with its claws and held him prisoner, and it required the full strength of a powerful keeper to loosen that extraordinary grip. Mr. Pocock tells of a battle of giants in the Zoo Which has, so far, never been made public. A great European- bison charged down the barrier which separated him from the American bison. No one was about when that fight to the death took place in the early morning, but the European bison was found battered into shapelessness. The American bison, if anything, was the lighter of the two giants, though both probably weighed over a ton.

Mr. Pocock was for 18 years in the Natural History Museum before he came to the Zoo. He is to continue the scientific work which earned him the distinction of .'-'F.B.S.".