John Werler News Today

Zoos are fine for people, but they make animals go crackers.

A tiger, a zoo, a terrifying death.

In 1909 Fort Worth purchased from a traveling carnival a lion, two bear cubs, an alligator, a coyote, a peacock, and an escalating population of rabbits. Not to be outdone, the Dallas city fathers, who boasted only some native stock like raccoons and de-scented skunks, purchased Queenie, a retired circus elephant. Houston began zoo­keeping in 1920 when the National Parks Department presented the city with one lonely bison, who was event­ually joined by a bissonnet, and some dispossessed circu...