Monday, November 15, 2010

Bronx Zoo #15


Bronx Zoo-15, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

The tiger cub sequence ends with this spectacular shot.

SET CONCLUDED!

Posted by Buckles at 11/15/2010 05:48:00 AM

3 comments:

Toby Styles said...

This is Helen Martini whose husband was a keeper at the Bronx Zoo she wrote a a book `My Zoo Family`.
Toby Styles

15 November, 2010 06:42
Eric said...

Once I learned Helen’s name, I was able to look up a more information about her on-line. Helen Martini and her husband Fred both loved animals and visited the Bronx Zoo on a regular basis. With Helen's encouragement, Fred quit his job as a jeweler and became a zookeeper, eventually being put in charge of the Lion House. When a lioness refused to mother its cub, Helen brought it to their New York apartment and raised it herself. As a result of her care, the cub was returned to the Zoo at the age of 2 months. Next, zoo officials asked her to rear a litter of tiger cubs. Again Helen saved their lives, and the story was followed closely in the news media. She converted a storeroom at the Lion House into a nursery, where she would care for cubs whose mothers would not nurse them properly. In August 1944, Helen was officially hired as the first and only woman keeper in the Bronx Zoo.

15 November, 2010 18:36
Anonymous said...

Indeed Mrs Helen Martini, a lovely lady who not only raised big cats (to a certain age)in a Bronx apartment, but also several species of primates and antelopes and I believe some bird species.
I recall seeing her when I was a small child (mid '40's)bottle feeding big cat cubs and a black leopard (Bagheera) in one of the cages. I believe there are photos of her doing this dressed in a black evening gown.
She and her husband Fred were lovely people and I would recommend "My Zoo Family" to anyone who loves animals.

Paul Gutheil

16 November, 2010 12:11

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