Wild Lives: A History of the People & Animals of the Bronx Zoo (review)

Present-day kids may not realize just how much the zoos most of them know differ from the way they used to be, even as recently as in their parents' childhood. Focusing on one of the premier zoos in the United States, the Bronx Zoo (run under the auspices of the New York Zoological Society), Zoehfeld examines the history of the institution, its changing views of animal care and preservation, and its influential directors, starting with William T. Hornaday. The book is particularly adept at demonstrating the way these men (they're all men) were both ahead of their times and products of them (even as Hornaday laments the likely extinction of the American bison, he shoots attractive, healthy specimens for museum taxidermy; his interests in preservation didn't extend to predators), and it tells candidly of the depredations suffered by animals under the zoo directors' initially ignorant care even as it clearly supports their ultimate mission. Though the book occasionally falls prey to sentimental personification of the animals and the extensive material is sometimes covered a bit hastily, this is an interesting and thought-provoking look at a little-discussed factor in the environmental movement, as well as just a popular subject. There are plenty of pictures both historical (the zoo has clearly long known the value of publicity) and contemporary, so browsers looking for cute animal shots won't be disappointed, and they may be tempted into reading more than they had planned. This would be particularly useful in concert with Curtis' Animals and the New Zoos (BCCB 9/91), which will help expand the picture beyond the Bronx Zoo, or in pairing with Gilders' The Kids' Guide to Zoo Animals (BCCB 1/05) in preparation for a zoo visit. An extensive bibliography (which includes personal papers of a couple of key players) is appended, as is an index.