Zoo Ideals
Thousands visited Whipsnade this Whitsuntide, and one hopes that they observed the special virtues of this most beautiful Zoo. It is right and proper that Whipsnade (which boasts as fine views as Ivinghoe Beacon itself) should be a breeding ground. A great part of the intention of establishing this rural Zoo of spacious proportions was to enable animals to breed in peace and comfort ; and it is fulfilling its purpose in more ways than one expected. Who would have dared to prophesy that the Brush Turkey of Australia would have successfully hatched its eggs in a hotbed in this climate of ours ? Yet the miracle was accomplished last year. Oak leaves and bluebell stalks and bits of stick scratched into an enormous heap by the laborious cock, did the service successfully. Again numbers of our wild birds took advantage of this little sanctuary. Rare foreign birds that had not bred before in England have been lured to productivity by the congenial surroundings. This May a tigress, it is hoped, will give birth to cubs in such comfort and decent privacy as will almost annul the hardships of captivity. Whipsnade in short has brought nearer the ideal of our zoologists that the capture of wild animals will become altogether superfluous. Enough will be bred in captivity to supply the demand ; and in general an animal born in a Zoo is content with life in a Zoo. One cannot say this of the captured eagle or tiger.
* * * •
Previous page
