Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 90, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 February 1917 — GIRAFFES SEAT THE POLES [ARTICLE]

GIRAFFES SEAT THE POLES

One ( of the Difficulties Faced by Men Who Built Telegraph System in Africa. Every industry has its troubles. Some of them can be foreseen and some of-them cannot be. It is doubtful if the men who toiled to build up a telegraph System .in equatorial Africa foresaw the peculiar diflieulties they were to have. fr<’m wild animals,- ' ' . .... "7 . IA several provinces of British .East Africa the giraffe and elephant are given special protection by law. It costs SSO to get a license to kill a bull giraffe and $l5O for a license to kilt a pair of elephants. In mauy parts the killing Of giraffes is forbidden entirely. Consequently in this vast game preserve elephants and giraffes take special heed to the voice of the Creator as transcribed in the first chapter of Genesis: “Be fruitful and multiply.*'’ The lions have done likewise and they h;fve caused real inconvenience to General Smuts more than once In his recent military operations. besieging the general himself once in his motorcar. The elephants and giraffes, however, make a specialty of telegraph poles. According to a zoologist who writes in the London Times, the giraffes have been giving trouble by pulling down the telegraph wires and thereby interrupting communications. The beautiful creatures, which habitually feed on the acacia, stripping it of its leaves as high as their long necks and prehensile tongues can reach, rarely resist such attractions and, as many of the telegraph poles, in this region of Africa sprout with leaves each year, their temptation is easily understood. —Current Opinion.