Years ago, a friend who grew up in Parkview told me a story. She said that one of the Indian elephants at the Zoo ‘went crazy’ during one of the rides. The full details of this event are not recorded, but the children must have been rescued. My friend recalled that, instead of the elephant being retired after its years of service, it was shot. While I was unable to confirm the event, the story brought back my own memories of elephants at the Johannesburg Zoo.
Remembering childhood visits to the Johannesburg Zoo
Because we also lived in Parkview, we regularly visited the Johannesburg Zoo in the 1960s, walking there from Galway Road. As a child, I remember the dark Victorian-type dungeon cages for the lions, polar bears and hyenas, and we could always hear the lions roaring at night as well as the weird cries of the hyenas. I also remember the rides on the two Indian elephants, but I was too little (five years old) to try these rides. Below are some of the photographs my father took at the zoo in the 1960s.
Indian elephant being given peanuts at the Johannesburg Zoo (Victor Hearn, 1961)
[[{"fid":"14643","view_mode":"media_adaptive","fields":{"format":"media_adaptive","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Elephant ride at the Zoo - Victor...
