The Ark in the Park: The Story of Lincoln Park Zoo

Rating:
Summary: I highly recommend this book!
Review: If you grew up in the Chicagoland area, you probably watched the Ray Rayner Show. It had cartoons and silly antics, and it had a sequence call, the Ark in the Park. After the Irish Rovers sang their Unicorn Song, Dr. Lester Fisher of the Lincoln Park Zoo would come out with an animal or two, and talk about them and their habitat. And all of us kids would agitate to go see Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, the Ark in the Park.

This wonderful book is a fascinating history of the Lincoln Park Zoo, from the park's creation to clear up a swampy old cemetery (where rains would regularly wash coffins to the surface!), through the origination of the zoo, it's changes with time, and on to the very present. Along the way, the reader is treated to many great tales of dedicated zoo personnel (including Director Marlin Perkins who became famous nationwide on Mutual of Omaha's Animal Kingdom), politicians both sympathetic and not, park visitors of all dispositions (after one elephant died, it was found to have 33 pounds of bottle caps, broken glass, rubber balls, etc. in her stomach!), and animals of equally varied dispositions.

This is a great book and a great resource for anyone familiar with the Lincoln Park Zoo. More than that, this is a great resource for anyone who wishes to know more about the development of America's zoos, and how the philosophy of zookeeping has evolved over the years. I highly recommend this book!