Saturday, December 10, 2011

Lincoln Park Zoo Lion House--Preserving History and Architecture

Lincoln Park Curator William Hoff, 1960

1967

Baby Lady Jane, 1954

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did anybody tell you that the AZA is threatening to expel the Toronto Zoo over this business with the elephants? Sincerely Paul PS: Can you tell me whether the Lion Man got his white tigers from Josip Marcan?

Jim A. said...

Bill Hoff would move on as Director of the Cincinnati Zoo in 1961. He brought Ed Maruska down to be his General Curator. In 1968 Bill came over to the St. Louis Zoo as Executive Director. (Marlin Perkins was still there as Director so it was a touchy situation. Zoo Board President Howard Baer felt Perkins' "Wild Kingdom" filming trips were taking him away from the Zoo too much. Hoff was brought on to be a constant administrator. It was still a mess, even if you liked both men.)

Bill was a leader in developing a diet for infant cats using Esbilac. This was the era when you pulled all the babies. We knew more than their mothers and they were cute in the nursery.

Wade G. Burck said...

Paul,
Who is the "Lion Man?" He sounds like a goof if he is going to use that title.

Wade

Wade G. Burck said...

Jim,
Great, great stuff again. There is a lot more history then what is "recorded" in books, that's for sure. Funny deal about Esbilac. It was developed for canines and omnivores yet felines do remarkably well on it. On the other hand KMR(kitten milk replacer) developed for domestic cat's is too "rich" for felines and will cause a multitude of digestive problems as well as occasionally "burning" their hair off.
The first litter of cubs I ever had born, I snatched them the instant they were on the cage floor, I was so eager to hand raise them. That idea wore real thin within a week of round the clock, every 3 hours feeding, diarrhea today, bound up tomorrow, heating formula, washing bottles, etc. etc. husbandry. I learned the importance of colostrum, and real quick I accepted momma knew how to do it a lot better then me, and over 60 cubs later I only raised two more, and that was an emergency and a necessity. You can have any baby animal, I'll take them when they are two and ready for school. :)

Wade

Stefan Grossmann said...

Wade, the "Lion Man" is woman beating thief Craig Busch.He declawed his cats and supposedly killed cubs with rocks.
I have a co worker that wanted to volunteer there for four months. She was hired at Zion Wildlife gardens, sold all her possessions, flew to NZ, and then was told there really was no job for her. Afterwards she was told by staff there that she was one in a long line of people this happened to. I would have looked at legal action for this shameless practice.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15903006/MAF-Report-Zion-Declawing-Investigation-Feb-2009

http://www.zionwildlifegardens.co.nz/information.php?info_id=38&zionSid=79e37664f1f1c70dade11aa86ee60fa4

http://www.thelionman.com/home.html

http://www.3news.co.nz/Lionmans-Zion-park-ordered-to-pay-reparations-for-keepers-death/tabid/423/articleID/235011/Default.aspx

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10728220

Paul, Craig Busch received his white tiger "breeding stock" in 2001 three males: Tygo, Abu and Jahdu and a female Rewa.
He got those supposedly from the United States. Not sure wher ehe got them from exactly.

Stefan

Wade G. Burck said...

Stefan,
Thank you. I rightly assumed anyone who took a title like "Lion Man" would be a nitwit. The only title that was ever appropriate was GGW's "Lord of the Rings." I have no idea where he got the animals from in the Colonies. I am rather surprised at how people condone declawing of house cat's, yet gag at the thought of declawing a feline. Odd.

Wade