Balls

Into the elephant house of the Bronx-Zoo one day last week wandered a newshawk of the New York Sun. He buttonholed Keeper Walter Thuman. Said the newsman to Zooman Thuman: "What most annoys you here?'' Zooman Thuman to the newsman: "Balls are what I fear." Mourned Keeper Thuman: "Footballs, baseballs, tennis balls, golf balls, ping-pong balls, billiard balls, marbles--they're all bad for elephants. But the worst are those ordinary rubber balls that children bounce. They bounce them near the cages. The elephants gulp them down. Then they get sick." A hard rubber ball, said he, killed a hippopotamus in the Cincinnati zoo. nearly killed one in New York. It took two weeks of nursing to save Julie, the Bronx tapir, who ate a soft rubber ball. Mr. Thuman knew only one elephant who could digest rubber balls.

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