The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1970-04-23, Page 4OUR POINT OF VIEW
Unusual concern
HOW-DO-YOU-DO — All visitors may not get such a welcome from the lions, but when they do become
so inquisitive, you can clearly understand the reason for the warning to keep your windows closed.
• 1..!...SV<" '%51.0%)"'".
Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881
ON ALERT — Because the lions are wild, precautions are taken to ensure that no visitors end up
dinner for the beasts. Game wardens patrol the park to keep an eye open for any trouble.
as a
Batt'n Around with the Editor
Count noses before leaving
A day on a lion safari in the family car
The concern registered throughout
the world last week for the safe return of
the three astronauts aboard Apollo 13
would have to be termed unusual in one
sense, although it was predictable.
The mass media has tied each of us
closely to the men who explore the
moon, and the fact there was radio
contact with them throughout their
harrowing hours separates the situation
distinctly from other aspects of our life
with which we should be equally
concerned,
The three astronauts knew as soon
as they stepped into their intricate
vehicle that their lives were in great risk.
The very fact that others safely preceded
them shortens the odds against them
having a trip without dangers of
malfunctions.
It's a strange quirk of human nature
that we would sit huddled in front of TV
or radios to listen to the nerve-wrecking
procedures being followed in an attempt
to save three lives, while we wouldn't
spend even a small portion of that time
to do anything concrete to save the
thousands of other lives which are in
peril throughout the world each day.
Although it will never be admitted,
there were probably those who followed
the activities with the thought that they
may hear the gloomy news that the three
were lost in space.
For the most part though, people
were genuinely interested in the welfare
of the three men and sincerely interested
The dream of riches often clouds
one's thinking and the combination can
result in problems.
An area farmer recently visited our
office and asked that we advise others of
the pitfalls involved in signing
argreements with persons engaged in
drilling for gas or oil on their properties.
He explained that the firm which
had been drilling on his land last year did
not fulfill their commitments to restore
his land to a workable condition as they
had verbally agreed to do.
The land they had used for test
drilling with their large equipment would
not be of any use for cropping for at
in seeing them return to their families
safely.
That being the case, it is almost
impossible to reach any conclusions why
this concern would be shown for three
men while the death or threat of death
for thousands of others draw little or no
concern at all.
Hundreds of people lose their lives
on the highway every holiday weekend
and yet there is no outcry from the
public for measures to stop this carnage.
We've heard predictions that life as
we know it on this continent could be
destroyed by pollution in the near future
and yet people have still not shown any
great concern over the situation or any
willingness to act to prevent it.
Thousands of people around the
world die of starvation in any given week
and again we see little concern or
concrete action.
Why then did people around the
world heave a deep sigh of relief when
they saw the three astronauts emerge
from their space capsule? What made
their lives so much more important than
most?
Perhaps when the answers are
found to such questions, we can transmit
that knowledge into an effective method
whereby mankind will start to feel as
concerned for the lives and wellbeing of
others on this planet.
The trips to the moon would prove
extremely profitable and worthwhile if
they fostered such concern.
least another five years he anticipated.
Unfortunately, he had not received
any compensation for having this land
taken out of production and therefore
had sustained a loss in that regard.
Based on his particular experience
and those with whom he had talked, this
situation should be taken into
consideration by any farmer agreeing to
tests on his farm.
We pass the advice along and point
out that this newspaper is always willing
to be a vehicle through which people can
make their neighbors in this district
aware of any situation with which they
have had unpleasant experiences.
There's a big one right there,"
we said, pointing out a
450-pound male lion chomping
ravenously on the head of a
cattle beast.
It was an extraordinary sight
to behold indeed from the
Batten family vehicle as we were
only about ten feet from the
king of beasts.
Despite the wide-eyed glances
from the eyes of three young
lads in the back seat, the large
lion continued his dinner
without even a glance at the
close proximity of a line of cars.
The scene was not in South
Africa, but in Ontario lion
country — 450 acres of farmland
on Highway 8 near Rockton,
between Hamilton and Galt.
There, at the African Lion
Safari and Game Farm, 50 of the
great cats roam free while
visitors pay $4 per car for the
heart-quickening experience of
driving unescorted two miles
through a landscape of prowling,
growling and romping lions.
Our visit last Sunday
coincided with lunch time at the
unusual attraction, and shortly
after we had entered the reserve,
attendants arrived on the scene
to distribute the daily load of
cattle heads from nearby
packing houses.
A pride of 10 lions had been
resting comfortably in the warm
spring sun when their dinner
arrived, and we watched intently
their charge through a line of
cars to get across the road to
where the meat had been
dumped.
Each animal carefully
guarded its dinner while one
female who had missed out on
the delicacy wandered around
the pride in an attempt to snatch
some meat away from an
unsuspecting diner.
The drive continued
throughout the reserve, showing
about five separate prides of
about 10 lions, each headed by a
majestic male.
Just opened last August the
African Lion Safari and Game
Farm got off to what might be
pardonably termed a roaring
start. In the first two months, a
total of 17,000 carloads of
tourists paid $4 per car for the
experience of driving through
the reserve.
. Along with 70 busloads, the
number of visitors reached an
impressive 100,000 •in that brief
kick-off period. Five occupants
to a car is average, but one
stalwart soul got a thumping
bargain with a station wagon
crammed with 18 kids.
The instant success of the
game farm proved out the
planning of the partners in the
venture — Col. Gordon Dailley,
formerly of Winnipeg, and
Jimmy and Richard
Chipperfield, an English
father-and-son team who have
set up similar game farms on the
Longleat estate of the Marquess
of Bath, and in Florida, Europe
and Australia.
The lions are only a beginning
for the Rockton reserve, which
has cost $500,000 thus far.
Later this spring a Monkey
Jungle will be added where
about 100 fierce-looking
baboons, inside a specially
designed non-scalable fence,
scamper at large over 12 acres
through which visitors can
likewise drive in the safety of
their own cars.
Sea lions and penguins, llamas
and wallabies, along with
peacocks and barnyard animals,
are already installed in a
carefully segregated Pets Corner.
Giraffes, zebra and other animals
of the veld are being considered
as future tenants, and a Water
Safari is also planned.
But the lions were the chief
problem in winning local
acceptance of the project.
Nqigh boring farmers had to be
assured that the big cats — up to
450 pounds for males and 300
for females — could never leap
the double rows of six- and
12-foot steel mesh fencing.
Richard Chipperfield, a lion
expert with a healthy respect for
the king of beasts, likes to boast
that "we've never lost a visitor."
To ensure that there is no first
time in Ontario, nine trained
wardens armed with 12-gauge
shotguns patrol in four
radio-equipped trucks and man
two watch towers.
In case of trouble, the
wardens have three choices of
ammunition to employ — a
saluting blank that merely makes
a loud bang as a deterrent; a
rice-loaded cartridge that acts as
a stinger, and finally, if required,
a lethal slug, a single ball shot.
Visitors are restricted to
driving along special roads, with
car doors and windows closed at
all times. If a car develops
trouble, sounding the horn
brings prompt assistance. The
wardens, dressed in khaki safari
outfits topped with floppy white
hunter hats trimmed with
leopard bands, keep a vigilant
lookout.
All untamed and untrained,
there are prides of lions in
grasslands napping in the sun or
frolicking friskily as cars go by.
Truly the headliner, a majestic
male disdains such frivolity and
comes to the edge of the
roadway to get a closer look, his
shoulders rippling with muscles.
Cattle heads bought from
packing houses supply the
up-to-10 pounds of meat each
lion eats daily, their diet
supplemented regularly with
bone meal and cod liver oil.
The tawny animals are
comfortable enough in their new
Canadian habitat which, says
Chipperfield, is "the most
realistic lion country this side of
Africa."
Surprisingly, Ontario winters
are not a problem — the lions
acquire insulating fat and heavier
coats — and in severe weather
can find shelter in unheated
concrete dens.
Now there are actually
Ontario natives among their
feline numbers. On December
31, four thriving cubs were born
right in the snow at the farm,
just missing being 1970 New
Year arrivals.
An ideal site for a leisurely
family outing, the game farm
includes a spacious, pleasant
picnic area with tables, where
you may bring your own hamper
or obtain refreshments from the
safari canteen.
And, of course, it affords an
unequalled opportunity for
picture-taking, that is if you can
hold a camera steady with those
handsome yet fearsome
creatures peering close-up
through your car window.
No pets are allowed in the
lion' reserve but kennels with
padlocks are provided for them
at the entrance. Nor are
convertibles permitted within
the lions' domain — in deference
to those hefty sharp-clawed
paws. However, safari cars are
available at an additional charge
of $2.50 per hour.
"To Africa and back in a
day" is the slogan for this
Ontario-set safari, open every
day of the year from 10 a.m. to
sunset.
However, persons who can
arrange a visit on a day other
than Sunday, will be rewarded
with a more leisurely drive
through the reserve.
Our trip was bumper-to-
bumper and over 200 cars were
lined up outside the gates when
we completed our trip.
All that glitters . • •
Broke his middle finger
Can you whistle a Bach
prelude and fugue without a
memory slip? Can you hum a
Beethoven sonata without
sliding into falsetto or basso
profundo?
Darn right you can't. But I
can. Almost. And it cost me
only about $12,000.
Trouble is, and this is a
touchy point in April, none of it
is deductible. That's what it has
cost me, over the years, to
provide a musical education for
my family.
After all that, I can whistle
and hum, both of which I could
do before. There's something
wrong here, but I can't quite
figure out what it is ...
I wish I had the 12 G's in
bonds at eight per cent. But my
wife doesn't agree. We could
have taken a trip around the
world for that, but she still
doesn't agree.
As far as I'm concerned, I
could have taken that $12,000,
thrown it off the end of the
dock, and been just as far ahead.
Once again, the only one who
agrees 'with me isl. Both my kids
have degrees in piano. Both were
talented: Near, but not quite at,
the concert pianist level, Both
eschewed (I like that word) a
career in music, because they
wanted to be first. And they
wanted to be free.
Well, they're free. Hugh
broke his middle finger, and can
play I Went Down To St. James
Infirmary, with only a few bum
notes. I think Kim could play
The Happy Farmer, with a
couple of days' practice.
But perhaps it's all been
worth it. They've learned
something. Hugh has realized
that you can't practise the piano
when you're waiting table at the
Chateau Frontenac or selling
vacuum cleaners in Calgary. And
Kim has realized that "her"
piano won't quite fit into a
three-room pad in Toronto,
unless you want to sleep on top
of it.
What brings all this to mind,
and without bitterness, is the
fact that my wife, a former
piano teacher, has become
hooked once again, after a lapse
of a couple of years, on the local
music festival. She's going every
day and listening intensely to
her former students. (Though
she's a bit miffed that some of
them are doing extremely well,
despite the fact that they don't
take lessons from her any more.)
But her reports have cheered
me. Things are just the same as
they always were. I went
through years of them, and I
know the scene intimately. The
festival mothers are still as
friendly as an R.C. bishop and a
Mormon lay preacher.
The adjudicator is still rotten,
giving the first-place certificate
to the girl who played worst.
Except *hen it's your daughter
or your pupil. Then he (or she)
shows an insight into music that
is superb.
The kids are still sailing into
their pieces at breakneck speed,
which they can't possibly
maintain and breaking down in
themiddie, while their mothers
and teachers turn purple as the
youngsters fumble, and throw
up their hands, and burst into
tears.
But perhaps the Old Lady is
right. Those moments at the
music festival, in other years,
were the closest to heaven and
hell that I've ever experienced,
with the possible exception of
shooting at a concentration of
German tanks, which were firing
back at you with bigger guns
than you had.
I've stopped breathing for as
much as a dangerously long two
minutes while my son or
daughter weaved through a
sonatina. I have gone out
afterwards and smoked • a
complete cigarette in two drags.
I have called the adjudicator a
slob, a cretin, moron, and,
sometimes, a brilliant judge of
music.
Maybe the Old Battleaxe is
right. Maybe it was worth
$12,000. Anyway, I can whistle
three bars of Tschaikovsky's
something or other.
Amalgamated 1924
SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND
C.W.N.A., O.W.N.A., CLASS 'A' and ABC
Editor — Bill Batten --Advertising Manager
Phone 235.1331
THAT SMARTS — Not all the lions were imported from Africa.
Four cubs were born on the farm in the snow this winter and one is
shown above getting his shots — an unpleasant necessity to which his
native counterparts are not subjected.
Published Each Thursday Morning
at Exeter, Ontario
Second Class Mail
Registration Number 0386
Paid in Advance Circulation,
September 30, 1969, 4,751
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $6.00 Per Year; USA $8.00
NOT IMPRESSED — The African Lion Safari and Came Farm also houses a number oe. other animal
exhibits. The seal on the left walked up the ladder, took a fish from the attendant's hand and then dove
headfirst back into the water, The feat failed to impress the three penguins, but it. did most of the ot het
onlookers.
LOOKING FOR FEED Many domestic and wild game are
enclosed in the pet section, including these llamas which are
constantly seeking handouts of popcorn and other delicacies,