Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-07-21
New View Is Great at Zoo;
Safety Still Being ested
BY JERRY O'LEARY, Jr.
Star Staff Writer

A new type of almost invisi-
BILE wire, strung from top to
bottom like the strings of a
harp, is being tested at the
Washington Zoo.
The test is to determine if it
should be used to give the
parks more than 4 million an
nual visitors a more unob-
structed view of the menagerie.
The general idea, explained
Zoo Director Theodore Reed,
is to give the public displays of
animals and birds with a mini
mum of distraction from bars
and more obvious wire re-
straintS.
But the overriding consid-
Grafton is safety.
DR.. Reed said the Zoo is not
about to adopt the new tech
nique until it has been thor
oughly tested to make sure the
animals and birds cannot
break through it. Apparently
some can and some can't.
Right now, the stainless steel
wire is in place on one side of
a cage containing several
varieties of hawk. The hawks
have not penetrated the wire,
which is about an inch and a
quarter apart in vertical
strands. However, such birds
as the magpies and jays go
through easily.
Deer But Not Lions
Zoo officials speculate that
the deer and antelopes would
be perfectly safe behind the
vertical wire but that it could
not be used for such large car
nivores as the lions and tigers
or for such slippery fellows as
the weasels and badgers.
1t will be quite a while, they
said, before any decision is
made.
One thing is certain: The
wire is virtually invisible at a
distance of six feet. And it is
very strong. The wire is 0.07
millimeters in size and tests out
at 800 pounds for tensile
strength.
BY way of experiment, this
reporter, who weighs in the
neighborhood of 200 pounds. al
lowed himself to be showed
against the wire and bounced
back as though it were a tram
poline.
Apparently, its penetrability
depends on how tightly the wire
is wound by the keys at the
bottom of the cage-very SINH
lar to the way a piano is tuned
Used as Doors
In Switzerland, where the de-
vice was perfected and is al
ready in use, the cages no long
err have doors, DR.. Reed ex.
planned. The keepers merely
spread the wire apart and wall
through.
The So-called invisible wir,
was the joint idea of a Dr.
Heidiger, director of the Zuricl
Zoo, and DR.. Ernest Lang, di
rector of the Basel Zoo.
Curator of Mammals Tet
Roth explained that the Zo'
here is looking for some kint
of wire or restraint that viii
protect the creatures inside a
well as the people outside.
He said there recently ha
been an upsurge in vandalism
and cruel acts toward animal
by visitors. mostly young boy:
who have been throwing rock
and stones into the enclosure
and injuring the animals. Onl
small stones will penetrate tn
experimental wire, a Zoo of
fetal said.
DR.. Reed and Associate Di
rector j. Lear Grimmer hav
experimental with larger stone
and even thrown bucket
against the wire. In every cas-
the missiles bounced bac
harmlessly.
Recent Injuries
Last week, a harbor seal
the pool at Beaver Valley 10:
an eye when someone hit it
the head with a rock. YeStel
day, DR.. Roth said, a kelp gu
suffered a broken wing when
stone struck the bird.
Every day we have to get ri
of from 10 to 80 pounds
stones that have been throw
into the animal and bird er
closures" DR.. Roth said.