The Washington times., 1915-11-26
ZOO MONKEYS WEPT
AS OLD KEEPER LEFT
Keenan,. Transferred to Bird
House, Spent a Day Bidding
His Old Friends Farewell.


ove vears' duty in the monkey house
in tho Zoo in Central Park. Patrick
keenan, has been transferred to the
bird house Old Daniel Burns. who has
seen even longer service than Keenan,.
is in moor health, and SO when he got
leave of absence Keenan, was sent TO
take his place. Bill Snyder. head keep
sr. told his friends In the playhouse yes
terday OF the change. and his report
was supplemented by the aged monkey
house keeper setting forth the trials and
trjbulations of his first week with the
"bir-r-ds." All this brought out for the
FIRST time why Teddy. a small. brown
South American monkey Is living In
peace behind the scenes In the biru
house instead Of his accustomed cage
in the monkey house.
The truthful BIZ Is authority for the
statement that Keenan, felt so bad
about leaving his friends in the mon.
key house that he spent nearly all OF
one day telling them he was going away.
and they all cried in chorus; ,,
Bill" said Pat. Il know ] won't Ike
birds. never did ana ! .Gsn,,oos am oos 0'a
Obstinately the head keeper insisted
that Pat was the proper person 10 'ake
charge OF the biras. and In the end the
by to his friends. and crossed, win
his belongings. to the other side OF the
Zoo.
Monkey a Boon Companion.
II will admit that the monkeys all
got off their feed when Pat left. but l
doctored them Up. for l believe the
change was FOR the good Of the serv-
Ice" explained Snyder. "Over IN the
bird house Pat got off his feed also. but
the worst of the lot was Teddy. He oc-
cupied small cage near the snake IN
closure at the east end of the building.
and was Pats boon companion. l al
monkey and he did. OF course. Keenan,
has not gone SO far away that he cant
60 back once in a while to gladden. his
rsmds o VIII h sight , OF Hm dan ama eme
courage visiting from one house to an
other in Central Park. because Il takes
man away from his work. Wen. In
spite of these occasional visits ot kce-
nan to Teddy +he latter grew worse;
and Bob Hurton. my assistant. notified
me that something must be done
looked Teddy over. He sure was feel
ing bad over the departure Of his friend.
~ will begin hoctorinS him tomor.
row. ! told Hurton. Teddy must have
ears and showed interest for the first
time. There isn't much more to toll,
concluded Bill. The next morning Ted
dy had disappeared. There was a hole
covered with piece OF wire netting.
That netting had peen torn off and the
hole enlarged. This was evidence Of
the way Teddy had made his escape.
1T was three days later" Bill says.
that the mystery of Teddy's disap-
pearance was cleared UP. ] had ocCa-
sion to visit the bird house and I came
not so much so that the old man did
not spot me out the end Of his eye
and thrust something hurriedly behind
the macaws cage.
what's that said l.
"'Nothins,' said he, confused like:
and he went on to discues the looks Of
the laughing jackass with me. Now.
always figure out that he Is trying to
cover up something. took to regard
ing the bundle that protrued from be-
hind the cage With interest. Then
noticed bright little eye regarding
me from between the folds and I knew
In a second that had solved the mys-
terry of the monkeys disappearance"
Pet Came To His Window.
"Ah. Bill" said Keenan, after Cope
land. the park policeman, had cX-
pressed the opinion that Keenan,
could be charged with petit larceny
for harboring runaway monkey.
the poor little beastie really wanted
to be with me. | could not refuse TO
take him in, 1t was on Friday
ed, and was ready to so home that
! heard scratching at the window.
What's that" says l to myself. 1
listened. and when the sound cane
on the ledge of the window WAS Ted
dy, a-shivering and a-crying to break
his poor little heartt. Sure, | took
him in. I could not refuse"
You should have told re" said the
head keeper reprOaChfully.
Keenan, explained that the real rca-
son he did not make Teddy's arrival
at the bird house the subject OF an
official report was that he wanted
Teddy as much as Teddy wanted him.
The service OF Keenan, in the bird
house Is source Of never-ending
amusement to Hurton, Cummings and
tho other keepers. One of the old
monkey house keepers new duties Is
to look after the birds in tn" aviary
near the lion house. His first real
trouble came when lIidalr" Pete. tho
pelican. dislocat"d his neck trying,
during mild attack of Eirmnsc itch
Fat had to sit for an hour and hold
the injured bird until SNYDER came
and put VI Petc's neck in splints:
Just before the audience in the hay
house broke up Policeman Copeland
told this story about the new bird house
keeper
Il came through the zoo the other
day on my way to the station house
beside the small pool in the outside ca ga
regarding with much interest the nam.
ingo. Half an hour later when | came
back, he was still there and still watch.
ing the bird.
What's the trouble says J.
flush" says he; don't disturb the
bird.'
Il wanted to know the interest, and
Keenan, explained. There IL three feet
Of water In that pool, and that swan
has been on that spot for an hour lie
can't be swimming. and he ain't an.
chored, and am trying to figure out
how he keeps afloat.i
u was going TO explain when tho
naminGo climbed TO the bank 7 soc
said Pat. looking at the lonc-locCcd
bird and as great light broke on him
he said. with feeling. a very unrctimcJ
word or two"
No affidavit goes with this story
though Hurton says it is true II is
reported in the hay house that Keenan,