Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Bronx Zoo Elephant House #10


Bronx Zoo Elephant House, Bessie.1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

"Bessie"

Posted by Buckles at 8/07/2007 05:50:00 AM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Photography -
Some works of Art have as much Power as the model .
There's nothing like the old BIG Cities . Nice series

07 August, 2007 08:00
Anonymous said...

Was this piece done by "A B" Proctor>

08 August, 2007 08:51
Anonymous said...

Richard Reynolds adds - -

Bill Conway, the long time President and General Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society and its celebrated Wildlife Conservation Park - -Bronx zoo to the unwashed, recently had this to say about the 1908 Bronx elephant house and the statues of Indian rhino Bessie.

“The Indian rhino statues and their plaza south of the building were installed in October 1989. Commissioned originally for Harvard University, they are the work of the noted Boston “anamalier” Katherine Weems, who modeled them after the Bronx Zoo’s famous Bessie, who lived at the zoo from 1923 to 1962. Each cast weighs about three tons and these new castings were made possible by a gift from Zoo trustee Mrs. Vincent Astor.

Architecturally impressive, the 1908 Elephant House was sad confirmation of the saying, “The architect is the natural enemy of the zoo biologist.” It was a lousy place to keep elephants, rhinos or hippos.”

Conway ranks as the leading proponent of the “New Zoo” movement. Essentially, it holds that old methods of zoo animal husbandry and exhibition were woefully deficient, if not outright scandalous.

Zoos of old were little more than museums of curious critters to be blankly eyed by the uninformed and did not take into account the need for animal welfare. They lacked animal enrichment, resulting in rampant unhealthy stereotypical behavior, e.g. elephants constantly bobbing and swaying, lions and tigers in cramped cages pacing incessantly, bears in smallish enclosures throwing their necks and heads back and forth, etc.

Moreover, in the past, zoos served little purpose beyond offering an entertainment diversion. That can no longer be ethically justified. Why - - because it ignores the only legitimate reasons for a zoo’s existence, namely, to conserve the species and their natural habitats.

Political correctness looms large at the “New Zoo.” Such terms as “cages” and “pens” are shelved forever in favor of “habitats,” wherein the animals are not so much exhibited as they are protected. If a given animal cannot be seen by the visitor in a gigantic new immersion habitat, he or she must understand that the animal must have its concealment and privacy, as it were.

The orangutan fan might have paid his $15+ admission fee to see the orangutans only to find them hidden away in the distance in a huge outdoor enclosure. The orang enthusiast must be made to understand this!

Of course, all of this ignores the fact that the orangutan spends at least half his life indoors (nighttime and cold weather) in a cage not much larger than the circus wagon of old. That is why visitors no longer have access to indoor animal buildings as they did in the zoos of old such as the Bronx elephant house. It is inconsistent with the message being delivered.

We get a much different view of the Bronx elephant house from its long time General Curator, Lee Crandall. In his monumental book - -“The Management of Wild Mammals in Captivity.” (1964), Crandall had this to say about the old indoor quarters in the 1908 elephant house, to wit:

" Each indoor pen is adjoined by an outside yard of generous size , for summer use by the inmates. Basically these commodious rooms are very satisfactory . . .Our present hippopotamus quarters provide well for the basic needs but offer little in the way of aesthetic attraction."

It is interesting how opposed were (are) the views of Crandall and Conway. Crandall was with the Bronx zoo for some 61-years, from 1908 until right up to his death on June 25, 1969. He must have learned something about animal care in all that time.

Can Conway’s “lousy place” verdict ignore the facts that hippo “Peter the Great” lived there right at 50 years and Indian rhino Bessie made almost 40?

We must conclude that these two diametrical opinions contrast traditionalist vs. New Age views.

08 August, 2007 15:41

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