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and he would sort of waddle off, and try and find another
place to dig in for the time being. It was too funny.

SL:· How big was he at that time.

SRL: He would probably be about that big.

SL: Almost 3 feet.

SRL: So then the war came along, and everybody had rations, and
meat was a big problem. So at that point Oscar was left to
his own devices.

SL: What were you feeding him in the meantime?.

SRL: Well, he would only occasionally.·. . he _would eat other
things. He would eat the fish, he would, you know, find his s
own £are. I don't know whether ... he ate frogs, there was
always lots of frogs and lizards and things. But along came
that [the war]; and he was cut off with the free lunch.
We had a wonderful gardener, Mr. Yunkin; who was a_
casualty_in the First World War. He had a serious head
injury, and he had a silver plate in the top of his head.
Mr. Yunkin had to be very careful_to always wear a hat,
because if the top of his head got too warm with the sun, he
kind of ... went in circles.
He was on his hands and knees, down here,· tending to a
vegetable garden at that time, down there by the fig.tree,
and he felt this nudge from behind. He thought it was one
of the-dogs and he just.said, "Go away, go away" (gestures) .
·And finally he turned around:arid here was· Oscar with his
jaws out like this, and by then he was about that long.

SL: Four feet.

SRL: (Laughing) He ran all over the_ place. So we decided well ... -
maybe it's time ior Oscar ... and it was war time of course,
and my oldest sister was here with her new little toddlers,
so Mother was concerned and decided, "Well, ·Oscar's got to
go." She called around to zoos and things, but nobody
wanted him; at that time they couldn't be bothered.
50 And at that.time the orchards_would be fumigated at
night. They'd throw these huge canvas tarpaulins over each
tree in turn, and when· it was completely down to the gr_ound
all around, they would stick a hose in there with cyanide
gas. We thought, "Well, this is the thing to do with
dispatching 0scar"·and we stuck him under the tent.

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