Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-07-25

ton fOr intelligence and amlaDlllty,
has been backing In public approval
he does not deserve. He is really
dangerous and treacherous beast In
captivity. and while he Is intelligent
enough. he is prone to misapply the
brains that nature gave him.
At least. such has been the exner-
fence Of the ZOO authorities. according
to William T. Hornadav. director and
general curator OF the Bronx zoo here.
The story of Minnie. the circus ele-
plant who carefully lifted the train
er's little bow to safety on her back
before she chastised the trainer who
had beaten her IS not accepted with
enthusiastic credulitv by the zoo keep
ers. Such thing may he true Of cir
Gus elephants. they admit. but certain
1v not Of those residing in a ZOO who
are never remarkably docile and as
old ape comes on develop tremendous
ambition to kill a keeper.
Only last summer. for exam0le. 1t
became necessary to shoot Gunda. the
large indian elephant of the park. he
cause he became so nnmanaoeable.
According to the ropn'ar version OF
the elenhant story. Gurda should have
disliked onlv those who fed him had
peanuts and tobacco and exhibited a
passionate devotion for his keeper
who had petted him but what Gunda
really did was to attack everybody who
attemnted to enter the cage and made
the process of feeding him exceedingly
dareerons. Al, keepers were equally
distasteful to him, 40 that 1t final(v
became the dutv of the BIOLOGICAL
society to have him shot. His skele-
ton and skin are now to he found IN
the Museum Of Natural History while
his anatomy was presented to the
College OF PHYSICIANS and Surgeons
for use in arch work
Now only Is the elenhart not to be
trusted. hut other animals show q
lamertahle tendencv to eat the hand
that feeds them. For instance. in thu
opinion of Mr. Hornadav nothing Is
quite 20 DANGEROUS as pct bear: and
for this reason the Feeners in the
Bronx Park are requested not to take
the slightest chance with any OF the
animals A man may feed bear an
apnle two hundred and sixty times
with perfect safety. and on the two
hundred and sixty-frst time have his
hand chewed Off. Such an accident
occurred not long 200 when keener
tried to pose boar for the mark photo
grapher the hear attaching the keeper
and Gevouring his right hand.
While a number Of accidents are
to he expected in tho business Of ev-
hibiting wild animals the Bronx Pork
has teen unusually fortunate in this
respect. especia11v in the case of visit
ors. ONLY two Disasters have occurred
to visitors within the past twentv
wears and one of these was entirely
the fault Of the victim. Before a
policernan cortd reach him. a drunken
man placed his hand within the cage
os nolar hear who cordially accepted
It, The second case was due to an.
other vicious elenhart WHY succeeded
in hreaI-irp IN iron knob OF his door
and f1inginq It out among a Sunday
afternoon crowd IF visitors striking
a small bow in the face and crtting
him. The Bronx has very good rer.
ord for a psrk cnntoi~ine manv dan.
gerous animals and hnvi~" o, annual
patronage of nearly two million visit
org.
Rronv Park while belonging to the
citv Of New York is under the axc'u.
sive direction o. the New York Too'o.
gica1 society," The CITY aDDropriates
two hundred thousand dollars annually
for the maintenance of the grounds
an,mals and buildings and the rest OF
the money REQUIRED is obtained from
the gate receipts Two davs each week
an admjttance charge of twenty-five
cents is made. In addition to which
the society runs two park restaurants,
a boat pavilion on the lake aud SUD
plies number Of riding animals for
the purpose of making money. The
original idea was tn use this monev
for buving pew animal collections. but
the expense Of maintenance and renair
is so great t"at the city appronriation
does nor berin to cover it and the pro.
fits of the amusement business go to
make up the deficit.
The animal collections are usually
amplifed bv the contributions OF priv.
ate citizens or members of the society
Since valuable animals are always dy'
ing IF old age. or Of various diseases
resulting from captivity. 1t is necessary
to he brvine new ones all the time.
Durire the past two years. OF course
the European war has greatly inter
fered with the transporting Of animals
from Africa. so that all the new spec
les have come either from private
collections in England or from South
America. Even under normal condi'
lions. it seems, it is difficult to procure
shipping space for wild animals most
Of the American shippers refusing to
TRANSPORT them on passenger vessels
On the other hand. the German ship
pers in the past did not object to
carving animals for any distance on
any kind Of steamers. SO that Hagen
heck the famous German capturer OF
kid animals. was allowed to Obtain
a monopoly on the animal import bust
ness.
There are now forty-six hundred
specimens in the 900. This number
is apt to nuctuate between forty-two
hundred and five thousand during the