DEATH OF OSTRICH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21149, 17 July 1943, Page 4

DEATH OF OSTRICH

MANY COINS IN CROP Fifty coins were found in the crop of an ostrich which has died of copper poisoning at the Auckland Zoo. The coins comprised 34 pennies, 11 halfpennies, four threepenny pieces and a five cent piece. “The bird was brutally murdered,’ said the curator, Lieutenant-Colonel E. R. Sawer. He expressed anger at the thoughtlessness of visitors who fed such articles to the exhibits. “People should realise that by giving coins to an ostrich they are condemning it to a wretched; lingering death by copper poisoning,” he added. The coins taken from the crop were worn down to thin discs by the processes of digestion. The amount of poison matter absorbed into the bird’s system must have been -considerable. This is the third ostrich lost at the Auckland Zoo. through the same cause in the past few years, and it was the last of the species on exhibition. Its ■death is particularly regretted for the replacement of such an attractive exhibit is impossible at present owing to war conditions.

During its history the Zoo has lost many valuable birds and animals through foolish acts by visitors. Some years ago a hippopotamus, which cost £SOO, died after attempting to swallow a tennis ball which someone had thrown in its mouth.