New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-04-29
FEEDING THE ANIMALS,
VARIED BILLS OF FARE OFFERED THE
INMATES OF THE ZOO.

"Old horses mules donkeys and goats. free
from disease and physic." were recently asked
for in advertisement by person who wanted
the animals for food for carnivorous animals in
a geological garden" The advertisement caused
many people to believe that this class of food
used in the Central Park Zoo and the di-
rector of the menageres. John w. Smith.
ceived many inquiries the subject. People
who had lost pet dogs and cats sent to the
menagerie for their pets. and there probably
| hundreds of people in New-York to-day who be-
lieve that a part of the space in the Park is
used for housing and fattening animals which
later on will be served to the show beasts
It's all a mistake, a groundless bugabOo. The
animals in the Park fed on good, wholesome
meat vegetables. fruit, bread, hay and oats and
these articles purchased in the open market
Eve want the best get said Mr.. Smith,
"and we usually get it,
Once every month a contract is let for fresh
meat. of which the animals eat about 225 pounds
every day. NO not every day" said Mr.. Smith.
because Sunday is fast day with the cat ami
mails" Years of observation and study have
convinced the managers of the institution that
the animals keep in better form if they have
meat only on six days in the week.
'The meat does not embrace choice cuts "
said Mr.. Smith, but it is good as much of
the meat which is sold by the butchers. 1t is
/
! ~ cents pound. We use the neck because the
| bone which it contains compels the animals to
| chew the meat, which, if there bones in
it, would be gulped down whole"
Down in the cellar of the old arsenal building
the menagerie caterer prepares the meals for
the animals. There he cuts up the meat into
chunks ranging in size from five to twenty
| pounds and arranges them his WheeIbarrow
from which he serves them to the animals at
/ he apIpS nd Iul
| lures also receive regular rations of n eat at
about the same hour that the great cats receive
theirs. The smaller carniVOrOus animals
wolves, foxes, raccoogs, etc. are fed in TIE r0rn-
ing, and, as a Park employee said: They knC
when it is 10 o'clock in the morning as well a
the lion and the tiger know when > o'clock
| comes round
But meat is not all that must have in this
| hotel The birds, bears, monkeys and elephants
manage to get away with about hundred
pounds of bread day; up two barrels
| of apples. two barrels of potatoes and the same
| quantity of carrots every week. and about two
| hundred and seventy-fve bananas. The ele-
! plants rhinoceroses and hippopotami have
| vegetables cut up with the mash which is fur
| nished them every day, and they get their regu-
lar allowance of hay also. Potatoes are served
| to the monkeys, 'hppos and ostriches. on
| the whole, have to get up several bills of
fare every day for the boarderS, and this is all
done by man, who is cook and waiter
| bined."
Besides these food articles. six bales of hay
are consumed daily by the elk, deer antelope.
| buffaloes, cameIs and other Illuminating animals.
and thirty to forty bags of oats also used
every month in feeding the animals. But the
! dainties which the animals enjoy contrib
| uted to great extent by the visitors. and
| bushels of apples and nuts, and hundreds OF
pounds of cakes and candies brought to the
| menagerie by children, who often deprive them
selves of the goodies in order to see the animals
| eat them.