This appeared in the Daily Mirror back in 1967 about an African Elephant called Diksie who was 27 years old. She died after being bumped by another elephant into the safety pit which surrounded the enclosure. Unfortunately, where it says 'continued on back page' there was no back page so that part is missing.
Thanks for posting this, much appreciated, unfortunately I cannot say it has been a pleasure reading it, as I feel just as sad as I was 45 years ago when I found this newspaper hidden under an armchair, I had overheard my family say"don't let him see the Daily Mirror", curiosity got the better of me and I looked all over the house of the relations we were stopping with in London at the time, I had just seen Dicksie a few days previous, when I started infants school a year later I remember telling my teacher about this, she had actually been at the zoo that day and witnessed it.Childhood zoo memories have recently been discussed here, this is one of my first childhood memories of zoos, and not a very pleasant one, especially at a zoo that has given me such enormous pleasure visiting for the rest of my life, Andrew recently stated that he wishes he had a time machine to return to the past, I understand what he means, not just relating to zoos but to other aspects of life, one thing I do wish for if we could have turned the clock back at London Zoo, and that is the Casson Pavillion had been better designed for elephants, it would not happen today, I suppose the same could be said for the home of my two cockney friends, who lived next door to our relations on the sixth floor of a tower block at Surry Docks, no back garden, just a small balcony to play in, another great idea at this time regarding architecture.
I remember being told about Diksie's (I have seen several versions of the spelling of her name) death at the time. She was one of the Elephants I had fed with fruit pastilles! Oliver Graham-Jones's first book mentions there had been several occasions when Elephants had fallen into the moat of the outdoor enclosure (I remember watching Lakhsmi performing an incredible balancing act on the edge of the moat of her indoor den - of course these were individual and so there was no other animal to push her; I have a feeling Rusty was the culprit when Diksie died). Did Diksie's death ultimately lead to the formation of Zoo Check? Pole Pole was presented to the zoo by the Kenyan Government in 1968 having been in a certain film and by 1983 her situation was controversial and some of her former co-stars had become involved in her future.....of course she didn't have one as she was destroyed.......
Like Tarzan, I can remember this only too well despite only being 4 at the time. This led to the ban on the public being allowed to feed the animals; unfortunately it didn't lead to London Zoo facing up to the fact it had an awful elephant house.
