I remember seeing this exhibit as a small child and I have a slide photograph of my father and I studying our guidebook on a nearby bench. I recall peering through a gate sited I think towards one end of this exhibit and seeing a young Toto.
I vaguely remember this enclosure too- mainly the big tall concrete sunshade in the centre of the area. I think the Elephant in the background in this photo is 'Rusty' judging by her shape.
Wasn't it Rusty that was the villain of the piece in 1967? I have just been looking unsuccessfully for Oliver Graham-Jones's earlier book to check as I am sure he says, even though it was after he had left the zoo.
Wasn't it Rusty that was the villain of the piece in 1967? I have just been looking unsuccessfully for Oliver Graham-Jones's earlier book to check as I am sure he says, even though it was after he had left the zoo.
Could the box not just have been something given to the elephants to play with that they have thrown into the moat? I suppose it would have landed rather tidily if that were the case though.
Ultimately, it wasn't any elephant to blame - it was public feeding.
Hence my shudder when I saw the photo. Three or four elephants lined up alongside each other at the edge of a moat, all jostling for a titbit, was a disaster waiting to happen.
The death of "Dicksie" in 1967 led to a ban on public feeding at London the following year.
Could the box not just have been something given to the elephants to play with that they have thrown into the moat? I suppose it would have landed rather tidily if that were the case though.
Hence my shudder when I saw the photo. Three or four elephants lined up alongside each other at the edge of a moat, all jostling for a titbit, was a disaster waiting to happen.
Even worse is when you see photos of Elephants teetering on the edges of moats, sometimes on three legs in order to reach that little further to get a food offering. Surprised these accidents weren't more commonplace.
Ultimately, it wasn't any elephant to blame - it was public feeding.
Hence my shudder when I saw the photo. Three or four elephants lined up alongside each other at the edge of a moat, all jostling for a titbit, was a disaster waiting to happen.
The death of "Dicksie" in 1967 led to a ban on public feeding at London the following year.
I'm assuming lessons were'nt learnt with the construction of the Casson, or is this where the accident happened? The addition of iron bars around it's moat edge was a result of this I'm guessing? Forgive my morbid curiousity Ian.
I rememember once speaking to a senior keeper who stated that, when the Casson first opened, there was no outside bathing pool for the eles! He and a colleague went back the following night and took a pick-axe to the outer substrate, creating the pool which is present today.
Has ZSL ever fully rectified the traumas involving it's elephant husbandry (Dicksie, Pole Pole, Whipsnade's Jumbo)and the run-ins with the Mckennas? IMO, the effects are still felt to this day. A very sensitive subject indeed.
I'm assuming lessons were'nt learnt with the construction of the Casson, or is this where the accident happened? The addition of iron bars around it's moat edge was a result of this I'm guessing? Forgive my morbid curiousity Ian.
The accident occurred in 1967, 2 years after the Casson was opened. The design of the paddock wasn't an awful lot different to the one of 30 years previously, judging from this photo.
