Animal Exports

Many of the photos I have in the albums which cover the years in Mombasa between 1950 and 1961 are of extremely poor quality, which is a great pity as some of the images have stories to tell. This is a good example. The photo is stuck into the album with no writing, no context. It is, obviously, a giraffe, and it's in a box, a wooden shipping crate, so I know it's one of the many wild animals which travelled to zoos in the UK on one of my father's ships.

In those days, there seemed nothing wrong with taking one of the thousands of giraffe Kenya had and putting it on display in, say, London Zoo. To us, their departure was an exciting event, for we were often invited by the ship's captain to come and watch the animals being loaded.

The loading didn't always go well. I recall one crate being lifted off the wharf which, as it swung inboard, suddenly opened and disgorged three fully grown ostriches, all of which either died or had to be put down following their fall. The reason for the accident was simple: in order to close the crate it was necessary for someone to put their hand in to tighten the nuts - and, of course, if they did this they risked a sharp peck from a rather angry ostrich.

There were many stories of the animals' passage to the UK, in particular of crew who became very attached to the ones, such as this young elephant, which they'd been asked to care for.

Sadly, many died: an animal accustomed to life on the plains of Africa isn't very likely to survive crossing the Bay of Biscay in a storm. Some survived better than others: for example, the giraffes always seemed very happy to watch everything that was going on around them.