"KING DICK."

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4210, 3 January 1921, Page 3

"KING DICK."

FAMOUS OLD LION TO BE

DESTROYED.

"That, acting on the advice of the veterinarian experts, hey have issued instructions for .the lion known as 'King Dick' to be destroyed."—Recommendation of the Reserves Committee adopted by the N City Council last evening.

The above small i,tem of news will cause a pang in many a youthful brtfast in Wellington, for "King Dick" has symbolised all that is noblest in the animal world to thousands of boys who .have gazed at him through the bars of his cage at the Nowt'own Zoo. The arrival of "King Dick" was an event as important as it was unexpected. One evening Mr Brewer (then custodi.au)* received a letter from Mr D. C. Bates, the Government Meteorologist, informing him that he was bringing down a male lion cub the next day, having secured it from Messrs Bostock" and WombeU's circus menagerie. That letter stated that "Dick" had' been born on February 28, 1905, so that the lion was 15 years of age last February. "Dick" was a seven days' wonder at the "Zoo"—

people got into the habit of; going up regularly to see him eat —and grow, and Mr John Brewer wrote bulletins as to his progress. He grew in four years v to be a very noble brute—it lias been said one of the finest lions in captivity. "Dick", has been painted and sketched and "snapped" a thousand times, and has always proved a wonderful subject. But just as s.U dogs have their day, so is it with lions, and lie has to die.

The council has decided that "King Dick's" skin is to be mounted twi

handed over to the New town Museum

The Mayor stated that the veterinary surgeon had reported that "Kins Dick" Avas suffering from paralysis of. the legs.