40 ~ BEASTS AND MEN 
contributed each £5,000. I myself put in 47,500 and gave 
an undertaking to transfer my establishment completely to 
Stellingen. 
Now at last I was in a position to carry out my long- 
nursed project of founding a Zoological Park of a totally 
different kind from anything that had been before attempted. 
I need not here go into the details of my plan: they will 
appear in subsequent chapters. I will content myself with 
stating the fundamental principle. I desired, above all things, 
to give the animals the maximum of liberty. I wished to 
Framework of artificial mountains. 
exhibit them not as captives, confined within narrow spaces, 
and looked at between bars, but as free to wander from place 
to place within as large limits as possible, and with no bars to 
obstruct the view and serve as a reminder of the captivity. 
I wished also to show what could be accomplished in the way 
of acclimatisation. I desired to refute the prevailing notion 
that luxurious and expensive houses with complicated heating 
apparatus were necessary for keeping wild animals alive and 
healthy. I hoped to show that far better results could be 
obtained when they were kept in the fresh air and allowed to 
grow accustomed to the climate. I wished my new park to 
be a great and enduring example of the benefits that can be 
wrought by giving the animals as much freedom and placing 
