Evening star., 1950-12-27
The Human Side of the Zoo
The Animals Draw More Visitors Each Year Than Congress Sessions
By Corter Dowson

More people go to the Washing
ton National Zoo to see the ami
mails than go to Congress to see
the Senators and Representa-
tives.
The animals win out, too. over
Abraham Lincoln sitting in MS
chair at the Lincoln Memorial,
the site that claims more visitors
than ANY other place of its kind
in the world"
The fur and feather CLIQUE just
sits back in it's cages and waits
to play host to 3.5 million visitors
each year. Lincoln in his char
receives only is million guests a
year and the Senators and Rep
resentatives in the Capitol a little
under that.
The Lincoln Memorial and Con-
gress are different from the Zoo
They have guides.
The Zoos guides are any Zoo
employe who happen to be
around when one of the 3.5 mil
lion wants to know where to go
in a certain amount of time. The
answers depend on which en-
ploye you question.
Likened to Art Gallery.
Bert Ford, assistant head of the
monkey house, says you should
look at the animals at the Zoo
the way you visit an art gallery.
It's all a matter of the indi-
vidual. If you're the type that
likes to go to the art museum and
look at one picture and leave, do
the same with one animal at the
Zoo. Then you don't have to
worry about how many minutes
you can spend at each cage" he
explained.
Mr.. Ford personally prefers the
study one animal method rather
than zooming by cages like man
passing a jewelry store with a
woman on his arm.
Keeper Burt Barker says he
can see the whole Zoo in 20 min
utes. The secret in visiting the
more than 20 houses and groups
of animals is to follow the route
keepers use when they go from
cage to cage to clean and feed.
otherwise you'll exhaust your
self, go round in circles and back
track" Mr.. Barker said.
Keep Right From Avenue.
If you enter the Zoo from the
Connecticut avenue entrance,
keep to the right, Mr.. Barker said,
and if from the Sixteenth street
or east entrance, keep to the left.
Going the complete circuit from
the west entrance you would first
see the deer, then the bird house,
large mammals, wolf dens and
seals, bears, small cats, the res
taurant and the ducks.
At the halfway mark you head
back on the other side of the
main Zoo road. Then you glimpse
the lions. monkeys, antelope
house, reptile house, outside cages
north of the reptile house, small
mammal house, camels and sheep.
llamas, hoofed animals and buf-
falo. Free wheel chairs are avail
able for the footsore.
But what should you see If
you're short on foot power and have
only Is or 80 minutes to spenG
at the Zoo?" the reporter asked
DR.. William Mann, who claims
it's a 4l2-mile trek to all the
Zoos cages anad pens.
Don't bother to come then, the
Zoo director said.
Founded in 1890.
The little group of animals kept
in the rear of the Smithsonian
Institution as models for taxi
dermists moved to Rock Creek
Park in 1890 to form the second
oldest Zoo in the United States.
The 78-year-old Philadelphia Zoo
is the country's oldest, according
to DR.. Mann.
Congress appropriated $200,000I
for 176 Zoo acres in the Rock
Creek Valley" but getting new
animals appropriated was more
or less a job for DR.. Frank Baker,
the Zoos first superintendent.