INJURY TO ZOO ANIMALS

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 April 1937, Page 13

INJURY TO ZOO ANIMALS

PROTECTION FROM VISITORS The London Zoo has put its foot down. It can. under its by-laws, eject any visitor from the Gardens whose behaviour is such that injury to an animal might be the result, but it seldom reminds zoo-goers of this for, as a. rule, they are fairly sensible. Recent happenings in the mqnkey house at Regent’s Park have forced the society to put. up a notice which for them, is couched in militaristic terms. It is: —

“Anyone feeding animals by means of knives, or introducing glass, mirrors, or tobacco in any form into the> cages, will be ejected from the gardens and liable to prosecution under the by-laws of the society.” Yes, there are people who are foolish enough to do these things, and do not give a. thought for the consequences. Jacky, the bachelor chimpanzee, immediately springs to mind as a victim of thoughtlessness of this kind.

He limps badly. This is because some years ago a visitor gave him a bottle. It was Jack’s delight to smash this on the ground and, of course,, he nearly cut. his foot in halves.

People feeding monkeys with fruit —perhaps pieces of apple—on the ends of knives. An over-eager monkey—aren’t they all? —and the little fellow has grasped tho blade and there is blood. Mirrors are often given to the monkeys. IL is funny to watch a monkey beauty peering at herself in the glass, but she soon gets tired of this diversion and flings down the mirror. More blood.

There is not so much seen of it as there used to be, but the giving of a cigarette to a monkey is still done. Some apes smoke with grace and skill, but they have no regard for ash trays and they throw cigarette ends on the straw as'so people do on carpers at cocktail parties. There is another and less obvious danger. A man goes down a line of cages with a bottle of milk, stopping at every cage to give the occupant a drinks Eack monkey drinks from the same bottle Supposing one has an infection. The zoo has wisely put its toot down.