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:
“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“The protection of a ten-year-old girl from her father’s advances is a necessary condition of social order, but the protection of the father from temptation is a necessary condition of his continued social adjustment. The protections that are built up in the child against desire for the parent become the essential counterpart to the attitudes in the parent that protect the child.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“The principle of avoiding the unnecessary expenditure of energy has enabled the species to survive in a world full of stimuli; but it prevents the survival of the aristocracy.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)