Protection of Species
Antonius recognized the necessity and importance of the protection of species and tried to alert his fellow men to the threat to native and exotic animals.
Under his direction, Tiergarten the Zoo Schönbrunn joined the first European organisation to save the wisent. Due to controlled breeding in adapted and strictly guarded areas, they were very successful. This system is still used for endangered species.
With his book Gefangene Tiere (1933) he wanted to point out that caged animals are not living under worse circumstances than animals living in wilderness. He put forward the idea that both develop the same relations to their environment. He often quoted, saying that a good cage is like a home for an animal while a bad one is like a prison. Here the modern concept of a cage’s quality is presented. That is the reason why he planned the cages functionally and appropriate for the species.
At the end of World War II the Schönbrunn Zoo was badly hit by bombs. With the Russian army approaching Vienna Antonius and his wife committed suicide on 9 April 1945.
Read more about this topic: Otto Antonius
Famous quotes containing the words protection of, protection and/or species:
“Ah! how much a mother learns from her child! The constant protection of a helpless being forces us to so strict an alliance with virtue, that a woman never shows to full advantage except as a mother. Then alone can her character expand in the fulfillment of all life’s duties and the enjoyment of all its pleasures.”
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“Let us guard against saying that death is opposed to life. The living is merely a species of the dead, and a very rare species.”
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