The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-07-22
MUSEUM on MENAGERIEp
The Cruelty or Geological Gardens 10
Captive Wild Animals.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SuH--Sir: Your
correspondent signing himself Uncle
Ned Buckshaw" raises an important
question In his letter in THE Stu of
July 20. He says very truly that "a
geological garden is sad thing. fully
agree, with him. and would further as
sert that geological garden is. from
every point of view, so far as most OF
the wild things Gagged in 1t are concerned.
very cruel AFFAIR and OF very doubtful
scientific value. Advocates OF things as
they are zoologically assert that the
educational value of collections OF wild
animals is great. I reply that our me-
nageries are misleading; Gagged things
are SO unlike the wild things that the
wild life there presented misrepresents
the real wild life.
II the object Of collecting and main
tanning at great cost specimens OF the
wild beasts of the world Is to give our
people. old and young. some adequate
idea of the wide worlds fauna. then the
results obtained do not Justify either
the obvious misery inflicted on the Gagged
birds and beasts or the large sums of
money involved.
Who that has lived among the wild
life of our continent OF any other can
for IA moment doubt that, say. the treat
ment Of the birds and fishes in the
American Museum of Natural History
does not far more really portray the
beauty and wonder OF the bird and the
fish world than can any aviary or aqua
rum tank?
The fun force OF my argument can
only be apparent to those who know,
and more than that. have studied wild
animals in their natural state. but
would try to bring It home to most
people who know anything Of country
life by an illustration near at hand.
Take the case Of the common red
fox. As he lopes across country on
mischief bent he In a beautiful thing to
see. a very incarnation OF our half
tanned countryside. Look at him in
city cage. You only see poor,
dwarfed, NANCY, Sinking, nervous beast
ceaselessly pacing his protesting way
round the narrow beat OF his cruel little
prison. No school child looking at the
victim OF lifelong confinement has any
idea worth one pin of the really beau
| tiful deniZen OF our wild woods. The
educational value OF that imprisoned fox
is nothing at all. I instance the fox
because many may for themselves mark
the contrast between the beast Gagged
and the same beast at liberty.
! might go through the long list Of
the unfortunates we imprison for life
in our geological gardens, and with the
exception land IL is only partial ex-
ception, I hold) of the great cats and
animals such as the Asiatic elephant
that for ages has been domesticated
the same cruel contrast holds good as
in the fox's cate.
! | am not a scientific man, so | am
in no position TO dispute the advantage
claimed for scientific study. 1t seems
however, that physical changes so COM
| plete as those wrought by captivity in
the poor captives must greatly lessen
the value of such observation.
In conclusion, would venture to
hope that in the future geological coll
lections OF wild animals will be by a
pltiful public condemned. The wild life
of the word will be saved for us. not in
the mcnagere but in the museum
Science is saving for US and for our
children the real thing You can see 1t
in the Field Museum. Chicago. in Carl T..
Akeley's wonderful groups OF our Ameri-
can animals. There tho real moose
and deer stand before us as lover or
the wild saw them. and a master crafts
mans hand has given them an almost
perpetual life. You can see them, rs
have already said, in the splendid bird
and fish groups In our own great mu-
scum and IN the other animal studies
that will soon be placed before the pub
| lie. Such work. work done as II has
never been done before in any land, by
a band OF men who have studied long
and carefully the wild life they have
| trained themselves to depict. will give
to those who cannot wander real pic
ture Of some of the strange. some Of the
beautiful. some Of the awful forms ct
| life that have been or that are.
w. s. RAINsroRD.
RrDOEFIELp. Conn. July p.