VALUE OF A ZOO

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 65, 17 March 1934, Page 25

VALUE OF A ZOO

The london Zoo.likes to know what it is -worth. On; the last day of the year 'the keepers are given report sheets on which to enter details of every animal under thexr care. Subsequently, a committee of experts reviews these reports, places a figure against the name of each animal, and so arrives at a-jpcttnservative -estimate of the'present value of ils stock, excluding the .inmates of the Aquarium and Insect Housl^, The total value of the-'Zop's animal population of 4000, counting the birds as animals, is calculated at about1 £35,000. Such facifirs as the animals' expectation of life, rarily in the wild state, breeding pow? ers iti captivity, degree of docility, and [■physical bulk' are all taken into conI sideration when ascertaining the worth. The highest-priced animal in the collection is the rhinoceros, valued at £.1000; the nest most..expenshe, two gorillas, /which" arrived just over a fear ago, worth £BQO each. Snakes are valued at £3 a foot, and tortoises at £100 a hundredweight. Elephants, though they'earn from £200 to £300 a year carrying children, never appear to rise in value above £400 each. A young giraffe is worth £600, but as its neck grows longer its price decreases!, owing to the difficulty of transporting so unwieldy a creature. Lions now breed so freely in captivity that their \alue has fallen from £200 to £30 since the war. From £.100 a pair budgerigars (love birds) have fallen in value to a few shillings each.