LONDON ZOO

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21574, 9 February 1940, Page 10

LONDON ZOO

FAMOUS PETS DIE LONDON, January 12. Old age and “natural causes” have resulted in the death of many favourites of the London Zoo recently. The cold weather and the wartime feeding, it is emphasised, have had nothing to do with the loss of this life, which is valued at many hundreds of pounds. A few days ago, Hango, an old African elephant worth £5OO, died. For 14 years she carried parties of children at Regent's Park and ate millions of buns. She was put on the retired list and sent to Whipsnade a year ago. But she fretted and probably missed the voices of the children. Elephant influenza claimed her, and at her advanced age she could not fight against it. Nobody seems to know her real age.

Kathleen, a female African rhinoceros, has died from old age at Whlpsnade. Kathleen had been at the Regent's Park Zoo for nearly 15 years. She was so tame that she would allow children to fondle and feed her. She was worth' £5OO.

Jackie, “greediest old chimp" in the London Zoo, also died suddenly. He was nearly 22 years old, and used to delight visitors by 'his antics’. He was given a pint of milk. He drank it in his greedy way, threw down the empty can, and collapsed. “Fatty heart,” the surgeons said, after a post-mortem examination. Douglas, a big chimpanzee who used to snarl savagely and make horrible grimaces, had cirrhosis of. the liver. “Gin drinker's liver” it was called, but so far as is known Douglas had never tasted gin. He was a staunch teetotaller. He was at least 20 years old. Koko has died, too. He was well over 20 years of age, and father of Adam, the famous chimp at the Bristol Zoo.

Another death has been that of Sung, the giant panda, who was worth £2OOO. So far, a post-mortem has not revealed the causes.