Abstract
THE forty-first Bulletin of the North of England Zoological Society deals with the increasing difficulties facing societies which will have to maintain zoological collections during 1942, and makes a plea for public recognition of the zoological garden on the same standing as the art gallery and museum. The Society's zoo at Chester, like other collections at Dudley and Maidstone, saw a considerable increase in attendance in 1941 compared with the disastrous figures in 1940-Maidstone had about 40 per cent of normal pre-war years-and it is planned to invest money for post-war construction plans. “Not only in this country, but one might say all over the world, the problems of preserving the zoological collections will become more and more difficult as the war progresses from stage to stage” it is noted, adding, “It is very unfortunate that in the past both museums and zoos have suffered from a certain amount of apathy from both the government and the local authorities with the inevitable result that their development has been retarded. Many zoological societies have had to introduce various methods to raise money which most of them would like to have left entirely alone, but the necessity of raising funds left them no alternative. In the post-war period it is likely that art galleries and museums will receive more financial support from government and local authorities, but I am afraid that for some time to come zoological gardens will have to depend upon their pre-war sources of income.” Among the post-war zoo ideas are a greater use of open spaces to display the animals to a better advantage, using ditches instead of iron bars and railings, to improve the labelling of exhibits instead of relying upon commercialized guide-books to impart the necessary information to the novice visitor, and more use of zoos by schools with the establishment of zoo lecture halls. The difficulties facing such schemes and bow they might be overcome are dealt with.
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Post-War Zoos. Nature 149, 74 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/149074a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/149074a0