BABOONS FOR ZOO

Evening Star, Issue 18999, 22 July 1925, Page 9

BABOONS FOR ZOO

HOW THEY ARE CAUGHT I Mr Frank Hay for, who recently banded | over ninety baboons ui the liamadiyad | species to the London Zoo, returned re- | cently to hie home, Franclnstonc, near Here- | ford. i Speaking to an interviewer of the methods | employed in capturing tbo baboons. Mr | Havtcr said it. was curiosity that led to | llic'ir entry into the trap rather than tho I temptation of the bait which was laid. || When tho area in which they lived was i| located, a trap in the shape of a native hut | was built. The work was done at night, | so that the suspicions of the animals should | not be aroused. The but was lilted with | a sliding door, winch could released by | the hunters, who would bn hiding near by, I and the animals which had been tempted | inside by a trail of maize became prisoners. I Mr Haytrr continued: After tho trap hos | been prepared it is not. long before the procession starts. Each colony of baboons j has a leader, and tho animals quickly make (lie discovery that there is a hut to bo | plundered. ‘They gather in tlie distance, and then tho leader starts oil on a tour | of inspection. Following the trail of maUe ] which lias been laid, and helping himsell j liberally as he makes tho journey, the • leader approaches the hut with extreme caution. Every now and again he gambols back to the colony to report, progress, end there, is a tremendous din at the ” coulcrcnco ’ . which ensues. | PEEP INTO THE HUT. The leader leaves ilie, animal?, chalienug | and barking, wiiiio he makes jurther ad- A vaiiccs in his scouting expedition. Whm 8 he at last, reaches the hut ho peeps in, j and seeing maize freely scattered about the floor of Iho hut, ond no human being in sight, grabs a handful and scampers back wish it to the company to explain how I easy it is. I | The baboon becomes bolder on the next ’ | trip, and as lie disappears into tho hut p; (hero is such a. hullabaloo from the other t, animals that, it can be heard ovor_ a long t distance. When the leader has satisfied himself that all is well inside tho but. and that there is plenty to plunder, he again j goes bad; to the main body, makes Ins j report, and returns to thoroughly investigate tho out sides of the building. Tho examination is very complete, and when tho leader goes back to give word that all is dear (ho “general advance’’ begins. The animals come with a rush in a body, and there is a tremendous scramble to get into the hut. Sometimes there are from twenty to thirty in (he hut when tho door is let down, ami then the noise starts again. Those, inside make frantic efforts to get out, ami those outside make equally frantic efforts to get in. We have to come out in force to frighten away those, which are outside. Sometimes they show tight, hut the. discharge of a few rifles soon sends them scampering hack to their haunts. THEN THE TROUBLE BEGINS.

Tit .is one thing to get, the animals trapped in the hut, but it is altogether another thing- to sort (hem out into boras tor transport* to England. This is done by fixing a box outside tlie door, lifting the door slightly so that the animal can be driven in, and the baboons arc imprisoned by letting; down tho sliding front of the box and isocuring it. The animals are driven into the boxes by the sprats of the natives, pushed through holes witch are made in tfie back ol the hul. Sofuofimos they make such a rush for the opening as soon as it. has been made that it is with the utmost difficulty that the boxes are kept in position. You generally get a box full of mah.s and females, because when a male goes into a box ho nearly always grabs the nearest female and takes her in, too. After all the animals arc bexed the sort-ing-out process begins. Some of tho females have young ones with them, and (be little ones trot about from box to box, scampering off with the females when they arc eventually released. Wo do not bring females away with us. but it is verv often an exceeding ly difficult task to get rid of them when they have been chut in tuo boxes with the males, MALES’ CARE OF , FEMALES.

The male sometimes takes the female under his arm, and hangs on to her for all he is worth. When the females are released they make, a bolt for it, and aro soon lost in the distance, but greater care has to bo taken in regard to the males. One day a native let a. male out of a box when he was trying to release a female, end the animal went for him tooth and nail. I was able to end tho struggle with a revolver bullet, but it was a narrow escape for the, native.