A reporter spent a year at the Philadelphia Zoo and then wrote this book about it. He talks just as much about the keepers, administrators, construction, repairs, management problems and so on as he does about the animals- getting a lot of behind-the-scenes look at how the zoo operates. For me, these details about how the people and politics weren't nearly as interesting as the animals- so I ended up skimming quite a lot... That, and the fact that much of the humor missed the mark with me, is why this book rated low for me. On the other hand, I did enjoy reading about all the wildlife- attempts to breed a rhino, hand-raising baby animals- kangaroo, binturong, marmoset- veterinary procedures, moving gorillas from old bare cages into new outdoor habitats, tricky work with dangerously strong elephants, making a stubborn camel move into its shelter from the winter weather (it didn't want to go indoors), watching interactions among the group of wolves.. Some of the descriptions are very brief, others- the wolves, elephants, rhino and gorilla in particular- are longer or revisited through the book. You might want to know there's a several-page very detailed account of the rhinocerouses mating. He also keeps mentioning how dangerous certain animals are, or how stupid others, without much attempt to see beyond this sensational or disparaging attitude... There's a bit of history and side stories about collectors, which unfortunately only detracted from the main narrative for me. It's certainly a piece of its time, an honest look at what a zoo was like in the 1980's. Rather sad how ineffective most of the veterinary attempts were- there seems to be more mention of animals getting ill or dying than of new births and successful treatments- but maybe those just stood out to me more.

more at the Dogear Diary ( )

Fabulous book ,and great to read before heading to see the Philadelphia Zoo!! ( )

This book takes a look at the Philadelphia Zoo and all the goings-on for a year in the mid-1980s. Not only do we meet some of the animals and learn their stories, but we meet many of the staff, as well as other people (including the “Wolf Lady”, who came every day to watch the wolves). Other events were included, such as the planning and building of a new building, then moving the animals into said building.

I really enjoyed this. Of course, I love animals, so it would have been surprising for me not to. It was interesting to get behind the scenes. You could see in the book where things were much better than they had been for zoo animals (moving from concrete/barren (i.e. sanitary) enclosures to more natural ones), but at the same time I hope other things have changed still (they were still using bull hooks on the elephants...). Of course, my favourite parts were stories of the animals, but I enjoyed “meeting” some of the people, as well. I think the author did a good job wrapping up the book, though the lives of both the people and animals go on. ( )

Perhaps one needs to be from Philadelphia, or be a zookeeper to like this book, I found it incredibly dull. On the one hand, with its old ideas of zoo keeping it was rather painful to read, on the other, there were not enough animal anecdotes for me. It had way too much information about the politics and business end of running a zoo. Lots of depressing stuff about the animals getting sick and dying. If you are looking for the nitty-gritty details of behind the scenes zoo keeping, you might enjoy this, but I was looking for something with humor and lightness.

I read at least half of this book, but did not finish it. ( )