TWELVE YEARS' PERSPECTIVE OF THE 

 ZOOLOGICAL PARK 



TWELVE years ago the wilderness then known as South Bronx 

 Park was untouched by the Zoological Society, or any other 

 improving influence. The only maps of it then in existence 

 were those made by the Society. The forests were choked by 

 rank weeds and thorny brush. Every flood basin was an un- 

 wholesome, miasmatic bog. There were no walks, no shelters, 

 no seats, no fences, no sewerage and no drinking water. Ex- 

 cepting tramps and vagrants, it was only a few of the most bold 

 and persistent lovers of nature who dared to penetrate and at- 

 tempt to enjoy the unkept wilderness. 



The squirrels, rabbits and wild birds generally had so long 

 been freely pursued by gunners and dogs that they had been 

 either killed or driven out; and the woods were almost lifeless. 

 The forests were freely raided for firewood, and whoever wished 

 a small tree went in and felled it. 



The Zoological Society posted its warning notices early in 

 the spring of 1898, and to those who were using South Bronx 

 Park as so much waste and ownerless land, they came as a rude 

 shock. Gradually the lines were tightened, and in about three 

 months the marauding portion of the public conceded the fact 

 that the Park was being protected. But in America the lawless 

 spirit dies hard ; and it was four or five years after the formal 

 opening of the Zoological Park, free on five days of each week, 

 that the exceptional indignant citizen ceased to express himself 

 to the gatekeepers on the two pay-days, and denounce the con- 

 tract between the City Government and the Society. The 

 "right" of the citizen to let his dogs run at large in the Park 

 also died hard; but the abrogation of that and the tree-cutting 

 privilege was accomplished without a resort to hostilities. 



It is no exaggeration to say that 99 per cent, of all the visit- 

 ors to the Park have been entirely in sympathy with the Society 

 and its work. The amount of inconvenience and physical dis- 

 comfort that our millions of visitors have cheerfully and un- 

 complainingly endured during our ten-year creative period is 



