The zoo in New Zealand

The establishment of Wellington Zoo was initiated in April 1906, when two menagerie owners, Messrs. Bostock and Womball, presented a young lion, 'King Dick', to the people of Wellington. The City Council set aside an undeveloped area in Newtown Park for the first zoo in New Zealand. The lion soon had company; some llamas, emus and kangaroos, which had been housed in the Botanical Gardens, were moved to Newtown to join him.

In 1909 the Duke of Bedford added a pair of axis deer and six thar to the collection. In 1910 the Post Office donated four storks; by 1912, with continued gifts like these, the zoo was an impressive affair, with well over 300 animals, all housed in their separate areas, roads and paths, plots of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias, and one of the best rose gardens in New Zealand. The first pair of tigers was on display in 1924; in 1927 the first elephant arrived.

Up to 1922 the only zoo in Auckland was a small private zoo at Onehunga. Mr Gunson, the mayor of Auckland at that time, was very keen that Auckland should have a public zoo. He had his eye on land at Western Springs, originally bought by the Council for water supply purposes. A single-minded man, he put the idea to public vote, and won. The Council allocated a ten thousand pound loan to develop the land for the zoo, and took out an option on some of the animals in the Onehunga zoo, which was owned by a Mr J. J. Boyd—notably lions, bears and wolves.

Once in gear, the development of the zoo rolled along very nicely. John Court Ltd. donated funds to buy an Indian elephant, which later became familiar to thousands of young visitors as 'Jamuna'. The zoo was officially opened on 17 December 1922.

The first few years of the history of this zoo were not without excitement. Eight animals were deliberately poisoned in August 1924. In 1925 a leopard escaped, and roamed around the city for several weeks: its body was eventually found floating in the harbour.

Despite Dr Frankish's ambitions, the zoo in Christchurch was much slower to arrive. In 1970 a small group of people formed the South Island Zoological Society, for the purpose of establishing a wildlife park at that city. The result was New Zealand's first—and so far most successful—Lion Safari Park—Orana.