Aussie Finch Forum

Audrey Tate, Hallstrom's biographer wrote: “ The inquiries shook Hallstrom badly. He rejected the notion that an ardent love of animals could be superseded by professional training and that 'scientists found it impossible to communicate with him'. From 1966 he was also under covert surveillance for illegal trafficking in fauna. Four years later, thirty-five people were convicted of that offence and it was thought that Hallstrom may have used his influence to have his involvement concealed. Whatever the truth, in 1968, dispirited and unwell, he donated his personal collection of birds and animals worth more than $20,000 to the zoo.