A Zoo in My Luggage

5 hrs. 1 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Gerald Durrell

Narrator Tatyana Seredina

After the war I organized expedition after expedition to different parts of the world to collect wild animals for zoos. From many years of bitter experience I knew that the hardest, saddest part of such an expedition was its end, when after several months of constant care and attention for the animals you had to part from them. If you replace their mother and father, get them food, and protect them from danger, half a year is enough for a real friendship to spring up between you. The animal is not afraid of you and, more importantly, behaves quite naturally in your presence. And then, just when the friendship is only beginning to bear fruit, when an exceptional opportunity appears to study the animal’s habits and character, you have to say goodbye.

I saw only one way out — to start my own zoo. Then I would be able to bring animals back knowing in advance what cages they would live in, what food and care they would receive (unfortunately, one cannot be sure of this in some zoological gardens), and no one would stop me from studying them to my heart’s content. Of course, I would have to open my zoo to visitors; it would be a kind of self-supporting laboratory where I could keep the animals I collected and observe them.

...So this is the story of how I created a zoo. After reading the book, you will understand why the zoo remained in my luggage for quite a long time.

1. Overloaded Ark (narrated by Yury Zaborovsky) 2. The Bafut Beagles (narrated by Yury Zaborovsky) 3. A Zoo in My Luggage Garden of the Gods (narrated by Vladimir Rybalchenko)