Show Bad Odor Old Oid Cages Garbage That's Salt Lake City's Zoo I By fly BOB 1308 HALE Lets Let's visit the Salt Satt Lake zoo at Hogle gardens Lets Let's pretend were we're t tourists seeing seeing seeing see see- ing it for the first time lime because the few Salt takers Eakers who still gothere go gothere gothere there know wh what t to expect Were We're from front a midwest city comparable comparable comparable com com- parable to Salt Lake City in size let us say and at home we have an interesting modern well-kept well zoo Weve We've heard about the attractions lions Salt Lake City offers and v u u A after seeing the major ones Temple block the capitol the canyons canyons canyons can can- and others it happens the I zoo is last o on oi our list Thursday We drive arive out on a wide new I highway ay past an attractive new residential section and ahead of ofus ofus ofus us lie he rolling rolfing hills and the green mouth of an an inviting canyon It looks pretty pr Uy an ideal site for a zoological l garden I We walk into the grounds and i the first thing we note is a somewhat somewhat somewhat some some- what foul odor It apparently comes from a brackish lying low-lying pond to the right of the entrance path Some Salt Lakers could tell us that at times the odor smacks one in the face like one of Joe Louis' Louis rights Next stop is the monkey island surrounded by a moat inside in inside inside in- in side a high concrete wall We Weare are areto areta to to- earn that this is one of the better appearing exhibits The I water runs in fresh the whole ap- ap Continued on Pae Seven Se Column Two S 45 5 S L VIEW IN ONCE PLEASANT RAVINE THAT THROUGH RUNS HOGLE GARDENS ZOO Tin cans lie in garbage heap that decorates p pathway y r running through grove Tumble Down Shacks Still Used for Exhibits of Animals n w Jv r rte i e 5 1 s A. A 1 d 4 9 w o a u o 5 a v THIS RAMSHACKLE BUILDING STILL IS U SED FOR EXHIBITS AT SALT LAKE ZOO Picture shows shack all but falling apart with roofing sagging in front Clotheslines Peril Heads of Visitors Old Signs Puzzle Them at Zoo Continued from Page One is clean and the monkeys scamper around the island But not so at our next pause the duck pond just to the west The water is dirty seems a bit odorous A few ducks and geese swim around half On Ona OnI I a tiny island in the center are a couple of unsightly old packing cases apparently dumped there as asa asa asa a shelter for the fowl The next sight gives us something something something some some- thing of a shock Llama Tightly Caged I Its It's an octagon shaped cage apparently apparently apparently ap ap- ap- ap built to house a variety of fowl But there are no birds there and its it's been converted into headquarters for the zoo llama He walks around in a n narrow path between the cage and a fence that surrounds it and doesn't seem to have much room in which to move about The cage itself gives us more of ofa ofa ofa a jolt The paint is peeled the caging sags and the building is patched up with old pieces of corrugated corrugated corrugated cor cor- metal in varying shades of rust that might have been dragged off a junk heap Had there been any Salt Lakers around we would have been told we were lucky because the llama I which strolls within a foot of th the visitors' visitors path surrounding his I Ith home has a quaint habit of spit spit- ting upon visitors who come too close His aim is something to command admiration we would have been told so it probably is Is' Is well we didn't get close Things Get Worse Things seem to get worse as we wego wego wego go along We stop stol at a series of cages housed in an old wooden shack that first was intended for fora a number of eagles and owls and other larger birds A few gaze sadly from their perches The window panes are broken the building is unpainted and rickety Most of the cages are empty and in some of them weeds grow three to four feet high Rather sad we think and trudge along a path beside a corral containing containing con con- a buffalo and a goat fam fam- ily We have to clamber up the rising side of the path and step lively because because because be be- cause the path has been turned into a where water Is leaking from a ditch We turn back swing toward the south side of the grounds Over on the edge is the wolf and coyote pen Or at least it once was a pen Cage Floors Clean However the cage floors are clean and the wolf and coyotes seem well cared for But the shack itself ouch i I The boards are old and sagging They are unpainted a dirty gray A shading roof projects projects projects pro pro- in front and looks about ready to collapse It has no supports sunk into the ground only some one-by- one four boards that prop prop it up Near this pen are clotheslines One line stretches from a corner of the pen to a clothesline pole across a path Two other wires stretch about high head-high over other paths leading from the cage One of them neatly took our hat off when we didn't see It in time It would be a nice lace to send sendan an enemy on a dark night The elephant house a nice ap long l low w building is next and we think maybe things will look up We find Princess Alice the famous elephant of the old Sells- Sells Floto circus swishing her hay around inside Weve We've read about her She made history by bearing young while in captivity Signs Out of Date Strolling beside the cages that line both sides of the house we wonder if someone Is playing a guessing game or just forgot to keep things up to fo date One of the cages bears a sign informing Informing informing In in- forming one and all that they are looking upon a tiger Theres There's no tiger there or anywhere else in inthe inthe inthe the place In another cage an African lion lionis is identified as as as' asa a puma which everyone knows is a mountain lion llon whose ancestors never saw Africa If teacher sent Junior to the zoo to write a theme on animal life she would get some queer results Strolling outdoors again we find finda a cage put up to house parrots At least a metal plaque on the outside said that the macaw parrots inside in inside inside in- in side were the gift of a bakery to Salt Lake children The parrots turn out to be a couple of badgers one with left foreleg amputated and a pitiable sight That seemed to be about everything everything everything every every- thing but we noticed a cool lookIng looking looking look- look Ing ravine running through the center of the zoo area It seemed inviting and we walked down along alonga a sloping path It wound up through the ravine and branches interlaced overhead to make an attractive scene until we got well within the grove Then we found th the path choked by underbrush Deadwood was piled here and there and alongside the path at one point was a garba garbage e pile heaped high with rusted tin cans and other debris We got out of the ravine and headed back toward the car wondering wondering wondering won won- dering why if Salt Lake City is going to have a zoo it couldn't spend some money to improve its physical appearance and have enough exhibits to fill it Or close it up altogether The appearance was so bad we thought that the owls doubtless must be learning to boo instead of hoot I |