My opinion only: I think the National Zoo is very overrated, and if located anyplace but in the Nations capitol, and had not had the first access to White Tigers and Pandas, would not receive the acclaim it has. A mismatch of exhibits, suggesting at a turn over of Directors over the years.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
National Zoo---1951 Guide Book
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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6 comments:
I think the National Zoo suffered because it was/is in the nation's capitol. It was chronically underfunded because, as part of the Smithsonian, it was'nt allowed to charge admission. At the same time the federal government and the city of Washington DC could'nt agree on who should fund it. No federal politicians were elected from Washington DC, and appropriation bills for the National Zoo tended not to pass. Maybe they would have been better off shutting the place down. The National Zoo had okapis during WWII, which were a gift to FDR from the Belgian-Congo. I remember seeing a photograph of one of them being loaded onto the ship by a crane. The National Zoo only got the white tiger because Ralph S. Scott lived there. He also lived in Miami so Miami Zoo also got one. The National Zoo had early success breeding gorillas. They had I think the third or fourth one born in captivity, the second in North America, but I don't think they ever got a second baby from that pair. They had the first Indian rhino born alive in the Western Hemisphere in 1973 or 1974. He was named Patrick after Senator Patrick Moynihan, if I spelled that right, and he was living at the Toronto Zoo when Wade Burck worked there, and as far as I know he still is.
Another thing I thought strange about the National Zoo was it's directors. William Mann was an entemologist who worked for the federal government. If I'm not mistaken would'nt that make him a glorified exterminator? Years later they had Michael Robinson, who was British, and had worked for the Smithsonian in the Panama Canal Zone, and was a spider expert. I don't know why he was qualified to run a zoo.
Paul,
I had never look at it that way. That being located there actually has been detrimental. But those are all valid points you raise. Thank you.
Wade
Wade-Thanks. PS The National Aquarium in Baltimore, which is great, is not part of the Smithsonian, and charges admission.
Paul,
The National Aquarium is indeed wonderful. I saw it the first year it open, and it sure set the standard for other "State" zoo's that followed.
Wade
Paul,
William Mann has always been held up as a shining example of an "animal expert" because of his association and friendship with the circus and folks in the field. John Cuneo tells of meeting him, when he was a boy when John and his father were trying to swap some extra Catalina Goat, that their friend, William Wrigley had given then. He swapped for some Aoudads.
Wade
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