Milwaukee County Zoo--By noted Zoo historian Richard Reynolds

Zoo had just had some Amur tigers born (once called Siberians), and I saw them on the TV monitor. There was a litter of four but only two were still surviving by Sunday. The dam is a first time mom. The male black rhino is the finest of that species I've ever seen - -long front horn - -must be almost 40 inches over the outside curve - - ordinarily we never see such in zoo black rhinos. He came in 1989, one of those from Zimbabwe. They are now considered a sub-species. The black rhinos are where (I think) the
Asian elephants were once housed - -at the eastern end of the pachyderm bldg., right across from the giraffes. Speaking of which - - Milw has the strangest looking female reticulated giraffe I've ever seen. She's almost white on the haunches and legs. The spots are only a faded light brown. Even the other two animals do not show what I think of as the typical retic. pattern of very dark brown spots with fine white lines between. There is now an enlarged outdoor giraffe area and a nice indoor viewing hall for when the giraffes are inside - -looked newish to me. I don't recall an indoor viewing area from earlier trips. Like a lot of places, Milw. is reducing the number of species. The place with impalas, ostriches et al in the front and cheetahs in the background, now has Impalas and Speke's gazelles. They had wanted Thomson's gazelles, but Bess said there are none are available so they went to Speke's. Seems that most male Tommies in the country were neutered to prevent overbreeding, and one cannot bring in any more. Someone recently told me (Milw.?) that, today, there is not a single hartebeest of any sort in an American zoo. And I cannot find one listed in ISIS inventory. Good grief! They were once rather common. First one I ever saw was in the Ringling menagerie in 1945. I suspect they had gotten it from either the Brookfield or the St. Louis zoos, likely a surplus male. Both Vierheller and the Beans were close to the Ringlings. On August 19, 1966 I counted the following hartebeests at Tampa Busch Garden - - Kongoni (4); Jackson's (9); and Selborne's (4). Now there are none. Milw. now has harbor seals next to the polar bears. Bess said they tried to get some Calif sea lions but the gov. said "no." As you know, Calif sea lions have multiplied to the point that they are widely considered pests by ocean front property owners. However, the zoo did have a sea lion show. the animals being privately owned by the trainer(s). . They have a lone old bongo. Don't know what they will do when it is gone. Also there is the now ubiquitous wart hog enclosure. It is located between the two large and impressive female AF elephants and hippos (two Nile females - -mother and daughter). I saw a wart hog, my first, in the Bronx zoo in August 1947 and not another until 1989 in Cincinnati Zoo. Of course, in the interim, the US Dept of Agriculture had a total ban against importing all wild swine for many years which, as you well know, explains their absence from zoos. Now wart hogs are everywhere. Some wealthy chap put up money for a new Milw. hippo habitat to include underwater viewing. I think the project is stalled by the worsening economy. The side of the pachyderm building with the African elephants and hippos is undergoing reconstruction on the end near the big cats. Not sure what they are doing. A huge new highway interchange is to be built for I-94 and US 45 right on the SE corner of the zoo. It will take the zoo service area (including the zoo's railroad engine house) located on the south side of I-94 (accessed from the zoo proper via a tunnel under I-94 - -a layout well know to you). The project will also take away a lot of the zoo parking area on the east side of the zoo proper. To replace what's lost, the zoo is supposed to get some some land along Blue Mound Rd west of the present zoo. I did not get over to the far western end where they have the small mammals, reptiles, and kangaroos. I think that's where, in 1987, you had those golden monkeys (rhinopithecus) on loan from China - -for sure the only ones of that genus I've ever seen. I'll tell you.