The Sheffield Jungle

OrangePerson

OrangePerson

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Just came across this website about a menagerie that pitched up in Sheffield in 1910. Including a poor orangutan from Borneo - quote from the local paper "There is no probability of the newcomer living more than a few days - it is almost a certainty that Mr Tudor's latest charge will have been handed over to the taxidermist before Christmas"

Sheffield Jungle

Politicians were allowed to give speeches from in the lions den which might liven things up!
 
that was really interesting, thanks. I wonder if the Jungle being the third-largest building in the UK was true or just a bit of ringmaster hyperbole? I found it especially interesting the way the imminent demise of the orangutan was considered a prime advertising feature (basically, "see it while you can"), an example being how the newspaper photo was entitled "Doomed To Die"! Preliminary media reporting of the arrival "(more than possibly for a few days only) the greatest rarity ever seen in civilised countries, namely a real genuine orang-otang (from the island of Borneo)....Mr. Frank C. Bostock, who has paid an enormous price for this "Almost Man" has advised his representative to announce that he does not consider that it can live more than a few days under climatic conditions so widely different to those of Borneo."

I do wonder how long the little guy lived for: he was first advertised on the 12th of December, still fine on 16th, had a cold and removed from display on 19th, but apparently much better on the 21st (which was the last report on the site).
 
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