THE EMUS IN OUR GARDENS.

Evening Star, Issue 11609, 20 June 1902, Page 7

THE EMUS IN OUR GARDENS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —With all due deference to your opinion I must in this instance beg to differ. I do not know} where you got your information, but it is clearly wrong. Surely, seeing is believing. The shelter is perfectly useless; also, whoever built it did not display much judgment, for it is much too small for such a large bird as the emu. The size of the shelter, however, is not what I complain about just now; but I maintain that the birds are debarred from entering this shelter even if they felt so disposed. Why the poor birds are kept out in the cold and in sueh a mud-pool only one reason can be given, and that is, gross cruelty! With regard to the feeding of the emus, I am also at variance with you. V distinctly say that these birds are not properly fed. X write of what I know to be true. If it were not for the visitors at the Gardena these birds would fare very badly indeed. lam sorry you mentioned the school children as being friends of the birds. I only wish I could think with you; but the acts committed by some of the school children upon these birds (which I have witnessed) would make your blood boil. What do you think of boys giving the birds lighted matches, as well as bits of lighted paper, pieces of glass, etc,, and these well-fed birds, as you believe, ravenously snapping at these things. Do you think the emus, if properly fed, would gulp down anything that is offered them? My knowledge of natural history tells mo that both animals and birds know when they have had enough, and stop, and all the inducements you can bring before them will not make them take more. The majority of boys that visit our Gardens know that the emus are nearly always and sa they go there to torture these birds. X hardly ever go to the Gardens without coming into collision with these young fiends. A week ago I had occasion to speak to some boys, and the biggest of them turned round te'me and said; x Can’t J do as I like?" I soo gave him to understand differently, but I am only one, and where I should interfere a dozen would ga by and say not a word of reproof. In conclusion, you say the birds are in good condition. Well, sir, you are the only person I know of that opinion. I am very sorry that I cannot agree with you.—l am, etc., F, J, Wood. ■ June 18. [Our correspondent’s statements are greatly exaggerated. The birds are regularly fed every rooming, and they have a strong objection, to roofed-in shelter. The reason for the birds being separated is that they are males, and fight. If our correspondent lw« witnessed the acts of cruelty on the part of school children which he alleges, his duty was to inform the caretaker, who would report the matter to the inspector for cruelty to animals, and prosecutions would fellow. One of the birds has been removed to a more central position in' Che Garden*. The birds are in good condition and in perfect health.— Ed. E.S.]