Graduate Bulldogs Dziggetai

An onager is not a mule or a jackass but a rare forerunner of the donkey. One of these Iranian animals resembling a small zebra with a pink back is now at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, thanks to the cowboy tactics of Bronson M. Potter '55. Another is awaiting someone who would be willing to pay his transportation from Iran.

At the time of the capture, Potter was touring through the Middle East with Fereydoun Ala, the son of the Iranian Prime Minister, and his brother-in-law, Narcy Firouz. Driving through Iran in September, natives told them about a herd of Dziggetais, the onager's Persian name. When the travelers saw a group of 30, they dashed in pursuit in a jeep. Potter said that the tactics used were to drive along side one of the running animals and then, "Lean out, hug him around the neck, and let him pull you out. He soon tires. Then you threw him to the ground and rope him."

Of five onagers captured, one is still awaiting a home, in America.

The five-month "baby" (pictured at left), which the zoo inherited, destroyed two packing cases before he was sufficiently subdued to allow shippers to pack him in another case for the ten day truck and plane trip to New York City.