Monday, November 22, 2010

San Diego Zoo #1 (From Erid Beheim)


S.D. Zoo-1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Established in 1916 with some animals left over from the 1915 Panama-California International Exposition, the San Diego Zoo did not acquire its first elephants until 1923. In his memoirs, Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth (the Zoo’s first president and the driving force behind its early growth) describes some of the trials and tribulations leading up to that acquisition.

First, the Sells-Floto Circus offered to donate two elephants to the Zoo in exchange for free newspaper publicity for its San Diego appearance. The free publicity was provided and, on the day of the performance, a number of prominent San Diegans and public officials were on hand to witness the elephants being turned over to the Zoo. The donation never took place, however, and the Sells-Floto people denied ever having been a party to the elephants-for-publicity deal.

Shortly afterwards, the Ringling show came to San Diego. When John Ringling (a good friend of Wegeforth's) heard about the Sells-Floto debacle, he offered to donate Albert, a male currently confined to the elephant car because he was in musth. Albert, however, refused to allow himself to be unloaded, and remained with the show when it left town.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Ringling show played San Diego on September 13, 1917 and RBBB was there September 15, 1922. Which date ties in with the offer of the elephant?

Eric said...

Dr. Wegeforth does not provide the date when John Ringling offered him the elephant. I'm guessing that it was 1922 when the San Diego Zoo would have better organized and actively expanding its collection of animals.

Chris Berry said...

This is pure speculation on my part, but this "offer" could have also been made when Barnum & Bailey was in San Diego on September 19, 1918. John Ringling was actively involved in the management of the Barnum & Bailey show at that time - and I would suspect that the Brothers knew they would be merging the shows in 1919. Perhaps the offer was made to cull some of the existing herd in preparation for the "Combined Shows"