Private trading in African wildlife: Alwin Karl Haagner's directorship of and departure from South Africa's National Zoological Gardens, Pretoria (1913–1926) (W. T. Stearn Student Essay Prize 2023)

In 1926, Alwin Karl Haagner (1880–1962), resigned from his position as director of South Africa's National Zoological Gardens (NZG) in Pretoria after thirteen years of service and left the country. While it has long been rumoured that he was involved in private animal trading, historians have not critically analyzed what led to his departure, nor his time as zoo director. However, a close reading of the reports compiled after two Commissions of Enquiry (1924, 1926) that were appointed to examine private trading and the depositing of animals at the zoo, reveals two important historical findings. Firstly, these Commissions detail a previously unknown network of animal trade that began with permits issued to capture wild animals in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), their transportation via the South African Railways to the zoo, and their care by the keepers there before being shipped abroad. This shows that Haagner, who had personal connections with private traders and Southern Rhodesian authorities, was assisting well-known trading firms such as the German Hagenbeck and Ruhe companies to acquire wild animals from southern Africa through means not known to governing authorities. Secondly, this evidence complicates existing accounts of Haagner, who is mainly remembered for his ornithological research and campaigns for wildlife protection. Despite his claim that assisting the trade in zoo animals was part of the duties of the director, the personal financial gains he made through this trade point to other motives. The exposure of a history of corruption from within the NZG places southern Africa into the global animal trade and contributes to its historiography.