Dr. Fisher's Life on the Ark: Green Alligators, Bushman, and Other "Hare-Raising" Tales from America's Most Popular Zoo and Around the World
Fisher was the director of Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo for 30 years. The job entailed 40 expeditions to such places as India, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Iceland; some trips brought him great joy, others great danger. Fisher tells how he helped deliver six calves and had to perform a caesarean section on the last one; how he extracted a jaguar's broken tooth; and how he treated a Bengal tiger with an infected ingrown toenail. Fisher reminisces about such famous zoo animals as Mike, a polar bear, and Bushman, the legendary lowland gorilla. He fondly remembers the late Marlin Perkins, the zoo director prior to Fisher, who hosted a national TV show, and the time that Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, gave him a check for $1 million during lunch in 1976 to help build a commissary-hospital and great ape house. Above all, the author's love of animals comes through on every page of this delightful book.George CohenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved