Joyce and George Munroe
Endangered: Living with wild animals
George and Joyce Munro were born in India during the time of the British Raj. In 1948 they decided to fulfil George’s dream to started to collect and supply wild animals to Zoos all over the world; this work they did for 70+ years. Read about their experiences over years, including stories of living in elephant camps, capturing, training, transporting experiences and shooting a man-eating tiger and rogue elephant which had killed many village people in the Indian jungles. Also included is the pleasure derived from building a zoo, living among wild animals, interaction and breeding some rare animals like tigers, chimpanzees, lesser pandas in captivity and the funny and sad moments experienced.Never told before; enjoy reading the many experiences including 100 photographs in the Book “ENDANGERED” by George and Joyce Munro. Chapter 1 – India •……….The Anglo-Indian Community dates back to the 16th century…… The Anglo-Indian is not the result of a mixed European - Indian marriage; they are the product of a particular time and place in history when India gained independence British left India leaving the Anglo-Indian community to fend for themselves and the problem of working out their own identity as a community. Chapter 2 –TIGERS•……….Halfway up the hill he came round a bend and, there, before him, was a beautiful Bengal tiger stretching himself in a patch of sunlight which had just about managed to penetrate through the trees………. Before he could think what he should do, the tiger saw him and, until this day, he does not know …….Chapter 5 & 6 - ELEPHANTS •………The Mela Shikar or Lasso method is dangerous but thrilling and requires a lot of skill and daring ……. This is like a gambling sport and one could feel the excitement building up as the time for the Mela Shikar approaches. The owners of the tame koonki elephants looked forward to the start of the catching season……..……….Picture being in an elephant camp covered in a wintery haze on a chilly early morning; The smell of wood burning on a campfire and fresh elephant dung fills the air. George sits on a log of wood sipping piping hot tea from an earthenware cup watching some newly captured wild elephants, flapping their ears and switching their tails ……… Chapter 7 – HUNTING •……. an elephant had been raiding the village and causing havoc, the villagers were petrified, ……. This elephant was a Rogue and had been known to have killed 19 people…….Walking was quite difficult as the area was covered with elephant grass which was thick like young bamboo, 2 to 3 meters high. However, there were tunnels formed in the grass where the elephant had passed through. ….. Looking down one tunnel and finding no elephant he then looking down the next tunnel and there, George, saw the rogue elephant waiting for him. The elephant was about 8 meters away, standing on a slope higher than he was, his head bent down, ears spread forward and trunk rolled in and about to charge. ……. Forgetting the instructions and to make sure and get the fatal brain shot, George’s only thought, at that moment, was to hit him in the head and prevent the charge…. There are many more interesting tales in the book including drug smuggling, breeding and personal interaction tigers, pygmy chimpanzees, Lesser Pandas etc. etc. As one of the reviews mentions “Very informative and interesting”
Broschur
15,5 x 23,5 cm
218 pages
