DEATH OF "OLD BILL."
BABY WALRUS' FOOD BILL. Thousands of London Zoo lovers have learned with sorrow that " Old Bill," the baby walrus, and a lady in spito of "his" name, is dead. She. sickened suddenly and died in a few hours. At tho post-mortem the cause of death was found to be a burst blood vessel.
It is sheer bad luck," Mr. Seth Smith, ono of the curators, said. "We had had her 18 months, and she was doing splendidly, for at last wo had hit on the right diet for walruses. Her daily menu was 40lb. of filleted cod and a qnantity of whale blubber. As her food bill amounted to more than £4OO a year blio was one of our most costlv animals."
Called " Old Bill" on account of her wonderful moustache, the animal's real name was Ande, short for Anders, a Norwegian appellation she brought to the Gardens with her. " Sho was a difficult baby to rear," said her keeper, " and it was a hard job stopping people doing their best to ruin her by feeding her with buns. One old lady used to bring he.r cods' heads. It was enough to kill her, for walruses can't eat fish bones."
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19061, 4 July 1925, Page 16 (Supplement)
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204DEATH OF "OLD BILL." New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19061, 4 July 1925, Page 16 (Supplement)
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