Frank Buck Zoo is a small zoo founded in 1930 and located in the 30 acres (12.1 ha) Leonard Park in Gainesville, Texas , United States. The zoo started as the Gainesville Community Circus in 1930. It is home to more than 130 animals.
80-539: The zoo was founded by A. Morton Smith as Gainesville Community Circus, and opened in 1930 at the Cooke County Fair, Fair Park, in Gainesville. A fire at the zoo in 1954 destroyed circus equipment and from 1954 the animals were kept permanently in enclosures. In 1954 the zoo was renamed after the film actor and director (and Gainesville native) Frank Buck , who collected wild animals from all over
160-431: A La Mesa, California , couple who shared it with the zoo. King Tut appeared in several films, television shows, and theater productions, and was the "official greeter" of the zoo for decades, sitting on a perch inside the entrance to squawk at guests Following King Tut's death in 1990, a bronze statue of the cockatoo was placed in the location of its longtime perch and remains there today, its plaque indicating that
240-509: A 15-part serial film that was the only picture in which he did not play himself. Prior to and during the making of Jungle Menace , Buck was represented by Hollywood literary agent H.N. Swanson . During 1938, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus made Buck a lucrative offer to tour as their main attraction, and to enter the show astride an elephant. He refused to join the American Federation of Actors , stating that he
320-538: A 23-foot reticulated python named Diablo that became famous when it would not eat and had to be regularly force-fed by a team of men using a feeding tube attached to a meat grinder , a spectacle that attracted thousands of onlookers and became a paid event until the snake's death in 1928. Buck began his directorship of the San Diego Zoo on June 13, 1923, signed to a three-year contract at an annual salary of $ 4,000 (equivalent to about $ 55,500 in 2015). He
400-523: A Lifetime , co-authored by Fraser, and narrated Jungle Cavalcade , a compilation of footage from his first three films. He also appeared in Jacaré (1942) and starred in Tiger Fangs (1943). His eighth and final book, Jungle Animals , again co-authored by Fraser, was published in 1945 and was intended for schoolchildren grades five to eight. Buck's final film role was an appearance as himself in
480-589: A Lifetime . The Frank Buck Zoo in Buck's hometown of Gainesville, Texas , is named after him. According to Buck, in 1911 Buck won $ 3,500 in a poker game and decided to go abroad for the first time, traveling to Brazil without his wife. According to a 1957 article about Buck's life, "For years he avoided telling about the poker game that staked him to his first venture in South America, instead claiming he had skimped and saved as an assistant taxidermist in
560-478: A bestseller and earned him the nickname Frank "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Buck. He arranged for a film crew to accompany him on his next collecting expedition to Asia in order to create a film of the same title , which was released in 1932 and starred Buck as himself. RKO Pictures created a triplet of financially lucrative films in the early 1930s that all dramatized "man versus ape" encounters: Ingagi (1930), Bring 'Em Back Alive and finally King Kong (1933). He
640-508: A bestseller. Between 1932 and 1943 he starred in seven adventure films based on his exploits, most of which featured staged "fights to the death" with various wild beasts. He was also briefly a director of the San Diego Zoo , displayed wild animals at the 1933–34 Century of Progress exhibition and 1939 New York World's Fair , toured with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus , and co-authored an autobiography, 1941's All in
720-447: A foot longer than usual, and their abdomens almost touched the ground. I was afraid they were doomed. We mixed Epsom salts with bran and, by using alfalfa meal, at last caused their bowels to move and relieved them of much of the edema . Some time passed before they were able to use their trunks but eventually they were as well as ever." Returning from a trip to San Francisco a few months later, Wegeforth found that Buck had oiled
800-434: A green back) in both body and breast colour. There are several "prominent rounded tubercles" with an "opalescent lustre" at the back of the gape. These tubercles are commonly (and incorrectly) described as phosphorescent in spite of much scientific evidence to the contrary. It is believed that these tubercles simply reflect light and are not luminescent . Gouldian finches are native to northern Australia, in particular
880-528: A more modern method of stomach tube or feeding the meat through a tube." On February 20, 1924, superior court judge Charles Andrews ruled against Buck and ordered him to pay court costs of $ 24 (equivalent to about $ 333 in 2015). In his 1941 autobiography All in a Lifetime , Buck did not mention his clashes with the Zoological Society board, his firing, or the subsequent lawsuit. He did, however, claim that "while acting as temporary director of
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#1732802241826960-490: A museum." Bringing back exotic birds to New York, he was surprised by the profits he was able to obtain from their sale. He then traveled to Singapore , beginning a string of animal collecting expeditions to various parts of Asia. Leading treks into the jungles, Buck learned to build traps and snares to safely catch animals so he could sell them to zoos and circuses worldwide. After an expedition, he would usually accompany his catches on board ship, helping to ensure they survived
1040-532: A net profit of $ 6,000, and three weeks later went back to Singapore. He also states that after the close of the San Francisco world's fair he went to work as Director of Publicity and Promotion for Mack Sennett Studio for seven months but "it was the sunrises over the Malayan jungle that I missed...I headed back for Singapore, headed for everything the jungle and life could do for me." According to Buck he
1120-667: A possible candidate for the position. Buck was headed to India at the time, and struck an agreement with the Zoological Society's board for him to collect some animals for the zoo and then come to San Diego to become its director. It was strongly hoped that his acquisitions would include elephants, an animal the Society, and particularly Wegeforth, had been attempting to add to the zoo's collection for some time. Buck found two female Asian elephants in Calcutta named "Empress" and "Queenie" that were trained to work, and bought them for
1200-611: A representative of Osaka Shosen Kaisha , a Japanese-owned steamship company. His work was under the editorship of M. Franklin Kline. According to two passport applications in the archives of the U.S. Department of State, Buck was employed as a traveling agent for Osaka Shosen Kaisha's Official Guide for Shippers and Travelers to the Principal Ports of the World , for the purpose of editorial research and "securing advertisements for
1280-511: A special dispensation to introduce Gargantua the gorilla without registering as an actor. In conjunction with his 1939 World's Fair exhibit, Buck released a sixth book, Animals Are Like That , coauthored with Carol Weld . World War II temporarily halted Buck's expeditions to Asia, but his popularity kept him busy on the lecture circuit and making guest appearances on radio. During the war years he continued to publish books and star in films: In 1941 he published an autobiography , All in
1360-478: A wild animal exhibit, Frank Buck's Jungle Camp, for Chicago's Century of Progress exhibition in 1934. More than two million people visited Buck's reproduction of the camp he and his native assistants lived in while collecting animals in British Malaya . The University of Chicago holds three souvenir booklets from the fair, including one for Frank Buck's Adventurer's Club for kids. Another pamphlet promises
1440-560: Is one of the first proven instances of birds biasing the sex of their offspring to overcome genetic weaknesses. Gouldian finches are a popular species in aviculture because of their striking colours and low care requirements. Gouldian finches get along well with other species of grass finch and some other docile species of bird, such as waxbills and parrot finches . In the Kimberley District of Western Australia, where most wild Gouldian finch were trapped for aviculture, it
1520-899: The Evening Post , "Robison put Buck back on the next steamer leaving for the Far East. With World War I on and the European markets closed, zoos, circuses, and dealers everywhere were looking to the Robison firm for supply." In his life story, coauthored by Ferrin Fraser , All In a Lifetime (1941), Buck claims his first Asian animal collecting trip was in "late 1912 and early 1913." He states that from this first shipment he sold tigers and birds to Dr. Hornaday , leopards and pythons to Foley & Burke Carnival Company, and "the remaining birds to Robinson [sic] Bird Store and other dealers" for
1600-624: The United States Department of Health for 500 rhesus monkeys from India at $ 20 each. According to the Saturday Evening Post in 1953, "World War I was on and the monkeys were vitally needed for trench-gas experiments. But Ansel Robison could not seem to get any action out of his agents in India. But the order had to be filled; it was a patriotic necessity. Ansel began making preparations to go to India." After
1680-403: The "least dishonest and undependable among as unreliable, cheating, and lying a group of traders as I ever contacted, before or since... Atool Acooli was the father of the present Acooli brothers, the best bird merchants in India." According to Robison, Buck traveled on Robison-financed animal collecting trips until 1925. The Buck-to-Robison pipeline provided "elephants to circuses, llamas for
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#17328022418261760-567: The 1940s, Frank Buck claimed to have captured 49 elephants, 60 tigers , 63 leopards , 20 hyenas , 52 orangutans, 100 gibbons , 20 tapirs , 120 Asiatic antelope and deer , 9 pigmy water buffalo , a pair of gaurs , 5 babirusa , 18 African antelope, 40 wild goats and sheep , 11 camels , 2 giraffes , 40 kangaroos and wallabies , 5 Indian rhinoceros , 60 bears , 90 pythons , 10 king cobras , 25 giant monitor lizards , 15 crocodiles , more than 500 different species of other mammals, and more than 100,000 wild birds. Sultan Ibrahim of Johor
1840-681: The 1949 Abbott and Costello comedy Africa Screams . His last recorded performance was Tiger , a 1950 children's record adapting two stories from Bring 'Em Back Alive . Buck had bylines in the Saturday Evening Post , Collier's , and the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine . His endorsement deals included tires, toys, clothing, Pepsodent , Dodge automobiles , Armour meats , Stevens buckhorn rifles , Camel cigarettes , and Cream of Kentucky whiskey . Chicago: Buck furnished
1920-521: The 1950's According to the Massapequa Post , "Back then, the land where the mall now stands was thickly wooded, vacant and owned by a New York water company. The buildings that housed the animals were constructed with plain concrete blocks and wood-gabled roofs. There was a huge two story Tudor-style building close to the road" that housed reptiles and birds. According to Texas Highways magazine, "Buck had his staff grow mustaches and wear
2000-471: The 1958 finch trapping season was the largest for one year, of the 38,649 finches taken, 11,286 were Gouldian. The last licensed trapping of Gouldian finch in Western Australia was on 15 November 1981. In that year's finch trapping season, of the 23,450 finches taken 1,054 were Gouldian. However, it is now illegal to export these birds from Australia. The Gouldian finch is used as the basis of
2080-581: The Director of Concessions and Admissions, Buck was there to drum up business for "the Zone" of the world's fair, which was the amusement-park-style "midway of that time". According to the San Francisco Examiner in 1968, Robison initially "gave Buck ideas on the use of tropical birds for added interest at the exposition." Buck began to visit frequently to talk to Ansel Robison and look at
2160-633: The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, 1999. Its status on the IUCN Red List is currently Least concern , but it was considered to be endangered previously: Threatened in 1988, EN in six assessments between 1994 and 2008, and Near threatened in three assessments between 2012 and 2016. The number of Gouldian finches in the wild decreased dramatically in the 20th century due to human-caused habitat loss. The population went from hundreds of thousands in
2240-512: The Jungle (1935), also co-authored with Fraser, was a work of fiction but was based on Buck's experiences. While these books and films made Buck world-famous, he later remarked that he was prouder of his 1936 elementary school reader, On Jungle Trails , saying "Wherever I go, children mention this book to me and tell me how much they learned about animals and the jungle from it." Buck next starred as Jack Hardy in 1937's Jungle Menace (1937),
2320-746: The Kimberley and Northern Territory . Prior to the Australian government's ban on the export of Australian fauna, Gouldian finches were exported worldwide, which has resulted in viable captive breeding populations being held in many countries. This species has been considered an Endangered species by the Australian Government in the last two "Endangered Species Act"s - the Australian Endangered Species Protection Act (ESPA) of 1992 and
2400-551: The Robison-Buck connection was severed in 1925. According to one analysis, Buck's sensitivity to beauty has been illustrated by "Buck also did not find it necessary to make 'macho' choices when he divulged his favorite animal list...the fairy-bluebird —with its electric blue and coal black plumage—of the Malaysian Islands was irresistible to him. Very rare, the bird is shy and lives in the deepest jungles, but has
2480-467: The San Diego Zoo", he had invented a method of force-feeding snakes, the means "by which captive pythons are mainly fed today". He made one subsequent contribution to the zoo, though indirectly: Having returned to his animal-collecting career, in 1925 he brought a shipment of animals to San Diego including a salmon-crested cockatoo named King Tut from the Maluku Islands . The bird was sold to
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2560-460: The animal with calomel , and that the doctor's experiments in force-feeding snakes with a sausage stuffer had resulted in the deaths of 150 of the reptiles. Wegeforth had in fact administered calomel tablets to a tiger suffering an intestinal ailment in August 1923, and in his memoirs described experimenting with methods of force-feeding Diablo the python before coming up with the idea to tube-feed
2640-598: The animals arrive and are taken up to the compound off the Orchard Road , to await the arrival of many more specimens, the result of a personal visit to India , Burma , and elsewhere, when all are placed aboard a ship at Singapore and taken to America. According to Robison, after WWI, German animal traders re-entered the market and operated more cheaply than Americans, and by 1925, the revised seaman's laws made it "prohibitively expensive" to transport animals on American ships. Robison largely ended his import business, and
2720-505: The animals until he was virtually "haunting the place". In late summer 1915 an "enormous orangutan" came from Java on a Russian tramp steamer otherwise loaded with sugar. Robison bought the steamer's animal cargo and rapidly sold the constrictor snake to a circus, but could not seem to find a buyer for the orangutan. Buck told him that at the Exposition Zone there was a "fast-talking carnival man named Don Carlos, whose concession
2800-548: The availability of both tree hollows for breeding, and the seeds that comprise the bulk of the Gouldian finch's diet. Cyclones and climate change have also negatively impacted tree hollow availability in the Northern Territory . Outside the breeding season, Gouldian finches often join mixed flocks consisting of long-tailed finches and masked finches . Flocks can consist of up to 1,000–2,000 individuals. During
2880-473: The biggest orangutan in the world, the two biggest pythons in the world, "dragon lizards", Malayan honey bears , king cobras , 500 monkeys, 50 species of snakes, and "rare and beautiful birds from India." Long Island, New York: After the fair closed, he relocated the camp to a compound he created in Amityville, New York . Buck's Long Island Zoo, located near Massapequa, seemingly existed from 1934 to
2960-518: The bird "was brought from Indonesia in 1925 by Frank Buck". By the end of the 1920s Buck claimed he was the world's leading supplier of wild animals. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 left him penniless, but friends lent him $ 6,000 and he was soon doing profitable work again. When Chicago radio and newsreel personality Floyd Gibbons suggested that Buck write about his animal collecting adventures, he collaborated with journalist Edward Anthony to co-author Bring 'Em Back Alive (1930), which became
3040-558: The bird were sent to him by British naturalist Benjamin Bynoe , although they had been described some years before by French naturalists Jacques Bernard Hombron and Honoré Jacquinot . It is also known as the rainbow finch, Gould's finch, or sometimes just Gould. The Gouldian finch is sister to the parrotfinches in the genus Erythrura . Both sexes are brightly coloured with black, green, yellow, and red markings. The females tend to be less brightly coloured. One major difference between
3120-503: The board by constructing the cage without their knowledge", boasting that he would continue to build whatever cages he considered proper "with or without the consent of the board". He had also been instructed to build an enclosure for a zebu that had been allowed to wander the zoo grounds, but apparently ignored the directive. According to Wegeforth, Buck made business deals with other zoos and animal collectors that were mismanaged or undocumented, and ordered expensive custom nameplates for
3200-420: The breeding season, they are normally found on rough scree slopes where vegetation is sparse. In the dry season, they are much more nomadic and will move to wherever their food and water can be found. Like other finches, the Gouldian finch is a seed eater. They eat up to 30% of their bodyweight each day. During the breeding season, Gouldian finches mainly feed on ripe and half-ripe grass seeds of sorghum. During
3280-563: The camp. Buck's business partner and manager, T.A. Loveland, ran the zoo while Buck was busy traveling, writing, filming movies and giving lectures." Gouldian finch The Gouldian finch ( Chloebia gouldiae ), also known as the Gould's finch or the rainbow finch , is a colourful passerine bird that is native to Australia . The Gouldian finch was described by British ornithologist John Gould in 1844 as Amadina gouldiae , in honour of his deceased wife Elizabeth . Specimens of
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3360-474: The close of the fair, Buck "announced he was taking a publicity job with a steamship company" or was "going to the Orient as correspondent for a magazine," heading out shortly for Calcutta. Robison commissioned Buck "to keep his eyes open for monkeys". Buck was initially reluctant, stating even if he were able to find so many rhesus monkeys, he had no money to buy or ship them. Robison told Buck, "I'll worry about
3440-546: The director of Wild Cargo and later a renowned wildlife documentarian, wrote about the filming in his 1963 autobiography. He recalled being bewildered by Buck's disinterest in "equipment" for the shoot, Buck's disdain for naturalistic observation of wildlife, and by Buck's suggestion that an orangutan fight a tiger on film. Denis described the Indian rhino that was shipped to Buck's "jungle camp" in Johor Bahru (nowhere near
3520-408: The dry season, they mainly forage on the ground for seeds. During the wet season, spinifex grass seed ( Triodia sp.) is an important part of their diet. So far Gouldians have been recorded eating six different species of grass seed, but researchers have yet to find evidence of insect consumption. Gouldian finches will usually make their nests in tree hollows. They usually breed in the early part of
3600-417: The dry season, when there is plenty of food available. When a male is courting a female, he bobs about and ruffles his feathers in an attempt to show off his bright colours. He will expand his chest and fluff out the feathers on his forehead. After mating, the female will lay a clutch of about 4–8 eggs. Both parents help brood the eggs during the daytime, and it is the female who stays on the eggs at night. When
3680-453: The early 20th century to 2,500 or fewer by the 1980's. The current estimated population continues to be 2,500 or fewer birds. Early research suggested that a parasite called the air sac mite was responsible for the species' decline, but the mite is no longer considered a major factor. The primary threat to wild Gouldian finch populations is an increase in extensive wildfires in the late dry season of its native habitat, which negatively impacts
3760-406: The eggs hatch, both parents care for the young. Gouldian finches leave the nest after between 19 and 25 days and are completely independent at 40 days old. Gouldian finches have brightly coloured gapes and call loudly when the parent birds return so that they are able to find and feed their mouths in the dark nest. It has been shown that female Gouldian finches from Northern Australia can control
3840-678: The elephants a second time. They recovered again, but Buck was immediately fired and left San Diego after only three months as director of the zoo, the board of directors charging that he "couldn't be trusted". Buck promptly sued the board of directors for breach of contract , saying he had given up his lucrative animal collecting business to work in San Diego and had suffered damage to his reputation. He sought $ 12,500 in salary which he would have received in his three-year contract, as well as $ 10,000 in damages (a total equivalent to about $ 312,285 in 2015). He sued Wegeforth personally, and when
3920-643: The elephants and asking for other animals instead! I was dumbfounded when I learned about this on the circus' arrival—hardly adequate thanks for Mr. Ringling's trouble in transporting them across the continent for us. Of course, they did not carry a side line of animals around with them like spare tires but they did give us a tiger , a zebra , and a camel ." The final straw involved an incident with Empress and Queenie: Buck believed that their hides appeared dry and cracked and would benefit from "oiling", an old practice in zoos and circuses in which elephants were covered in neatsfoot oil to soften and condition their skin,
4000-482: The end of World War II and his death in 1950. In 1923 Buck was hired as the first full-time director of the San Diego Zoo , but his tenure there was brief and tumultuous. The zoo was still in its early years, having begun as an assortment of animal displays remaining from the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition held in Balboa Park . It had been granted a permanent site in 1921 (an area of about 140 acres in
4080-451: The jungle) for the production, and how he calmly wrestled with the corpse of "the large placid old tiger specially hired from a local animal dealer" when it drowned in its pit during filming. During this time Buck was represented by George T. Bye , a New York literary agent . Buck's third book, Fang and Claw (1935), was co-authored with Ferrin Fraser ; for the film adaptation , Buck directed and once again starred. Tim Thompson in
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#17328022418264160-533: The loveliest song." In an interesting coincidence, ornithologist Edward H. Lewis, the founding director of the Catalina Bird Park (and thus someone Buck knew and to whom he had sold birds), also thought the fairy-bluebird of Asia was the most beautiful of birds. As the Oakland Tribune put it, Buck went on to fame as the "dashing, dauntless, devil-may-care hero of the big game world". By
4240-460: The matter went to court in February 1924 Buck accused Wegeforth of interfering with "practically everything" related to his job, and of conspiring with the board to "belittle and disparage" his efforts as director. Wegeforth accused Buck of incompetence and testified that "the whole character of the man was insubordination ." Buck also claimed that Wegeforth had killed a sick tiger by dosing
4320-413: The money." Six weeks later Robison received a cablegram from Buck in India that he had the monkeys, as well as two Bengal tigers , snakes, rare pheasants and some other birds. Buck added, "Send money." According to Robison: "He didn't know a damn thing about animals...[but] Frank did help, sending monkeys to me for government research...After that I financed all of Frank's trips for 10 years." Per
4400-466: The oil being washed off after a few days. Wegeforth, a physician , took a strong interest in veterinary medicine and personally monitored the health of the animals, and had learned that oiling could cause pneumonia or Bright's disease in elephants. He therefore ordered Buck never to oil Empress and Queenie. Buck oiled them anyway, and according to Wegeforth "they became very piteous-looking creatures, their trunks grew flaccid and seemed about
4480-407: The panther escaped when we were unloading it!' Robison hurried to the docks and together they inched the snarling, frightened cat into an awaiting cage." According to Robison, one day in 1915, Buck visited Robison's shop with an eye to purchasing Lady Gould finches ( Chloebia gouldiae ) from a shipment that Robison had received from Australia. Robison vividly recalled his first sight of Buck: "He
4560-481: The park's northwestern quadrant) and most of its initial exhibits had been built over the following year, with a "grand opening" of the new grounds held on January 1, 1923. The zoo was founded by the Zoological Society of San Diego and managed by its board of directors , with founding board member Frank Stephens having served as the part-time managing director without pay since its beginning. Most of
4640-524: The past seven years. Buck reported satisfaction and acceptable profits if 70 percent of the birds and 80 percent of the animals survived the sea journey from Asia. According to the Free Press reporter: He made Singapore his headquarters, purchasing animals and birds as they arrived in the boats from Java , the Celebes , Borneo , Sumatra and the F.M.S. Gradually the collection grows as one by one
4720-413: The planning and development was being overseen by Society founder and president Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth , who was the driving force behind the zoo's creation. A strong-willed, hands-on president, Wegeforth walked the zoo grounds daily and had a singular vision for its future, with little room for opposing viewpoints. Philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps , who had made several significant donations to
4800-410: The private zoo of Borax Smith , increased the private collection of William Randolph Hearst, provided animals for Wrigley 's bird park on Catalina , Fleischhaker Zoo in San Francisco, and Cecil B. DeMille 's movie The King of Kings ." Buck appears to mention Robison but once in his autobiography, and misspells the name. Perhaps simultaneously, but at least from 1917 to 1920, Buck worked as
4880-712: The publication" on a commission basis. Buck was assigned to visit Japan, China, Hong Kong, Straits Settlements , Ceylon (now Sri Lanka ), India, Java, Dutch East Indies , the Philippines, and British Possessions. Buck does not mention his work traveling to the great ports of Asia for a Japanese steamship company in his 1941 autobiography, perhaps due to the Pacific War . According to the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser , in 1923, Buck said he had made 14 animal collecting trips to Asia over
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#17328022418264960-470: The same khaki outfit he did. Employees also carried autographed Frank Buck cards, so that when visitors came up and asked "Frank Buck" for an autograph, the employee just handed them a card." According to Hofstra University , which holds an archive of Frank Buck Zoo material, "For a twenty-five cent admissions fee, guests could view the animals, promotional movie posters, and large photographs of Buck's travels. Souvenirs and refreshments could be purchased at
5040-438: The sex of their offspring by choosing mates according to their head colour. A certain amount of genetic incompatibility between black and red-headed birds can result in high mortality (up to 80%) in female offspring when birds of different head colours mate. If the female mates with a finch of different head colour, this genetic incompatibility can be addressed by over-producing sons, up to a ratio of four males to one female. This
5120-430: The sexes is that the male's chest is purple , while the female's is a lighter mauve . Gouldian finches are about 125–140 mm (4.9–5.5 in) long. Their heads may be red, black, or yellow. Formerly considered three different kinds of finches, it is now known that these are colour variants of one species that exist in the wild. Selective breeding has also developed mutations (blue, yellow and silver instead of
5200-428: The snake using a sausage stuffer. Board member Thomas Faulconer and other witnesses, however, suggested that the sick tiger had died after a suspicious blow to the head, and flatly denied the snake-killing accusation. Wegeforth claimed that Buck himself had mistreated the reptiles, saying that he had "stuffed down, by the most inhuman way of feeding, snake meat down the throat of a boa constrictor instead of using
5280-470: The transport to the United States. According to Ansel W. Robison , he both trained and funded the man whom The Rotarian magazine in 1972 called "a sideshow impresario and writer". Robinson, a pet store owner from the third generation of a family of San Francisco animal merchants, recalled from over a distance of some 50 years "the day Buck barked frantically over the telephone, 'Come quick, Ansel,
5360-628: The world, and who also worked as a ring master at the zoo. The zoo was moved to its current location in Leonard Park in 1962. The Frank Buck Exhibit opened at the zoo in March 2008 showing items donated by Buck's daughter, Barbara Buck, that once belonged to her father including camp tools and media memorabilia. In 2020, Frank Buck Zoo won an award from the ZAA for their renovated prairie dog enclosure. The handicap and stroller accessible path around
5440-692: The zoo is about a mile long, with an elevated walkway over the Bennet's and swamp wallaby and the African savanna, with giraffe , common ostrich , helmeted guinea fowl and Nubian ibex . Visitors see the giraffes at eye level and can feed them during the public feeding every day. Frank Buck Zoo is also home to many other different species of animals from across the world, with Asian small clawed otters , Chilean flamingos , American black bears , and many other animals. Frank Buck (animal collector) Frank Howard Buck (March 17, 1884 – March 25, 1950)
5520-543: The zoo's animals and exhibits which had to be returned when it was found that Buck had misspelled half of the names. Prior to receiving Empress and Queenie, Wegeforth had struck a deal with John Ringling to acquire elephants from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus ; when Ringling telegraphed that the circus was returning to San Diego and he was bringing the promised elephants, Wegeforth recorded that "without consulting me, [Buck] wired back declining
5600-509: The zoo, suggested that it needed a full-time director and volunteered to pay such a person's salary for three years if Wegeforth could find someone suitable for the job. Wegeforth visited Dr. William Temple Hornaday , director of the New York Zoological Park , hoping Hornaday would recommend someone, but received a cold response. He was surprised, then, to receive a call from Buck saying he had been referred by Hornaday as
5680-446: The zoo. When the elephants arrived in San Diego after a long journey by boat and freight train, Wegeforth and superintendent Harry Edwards rode them through the city streets to the zoo. Buck soon arrived with the rest of the promised animals, including two orangutans , a leopard cub, two gray langurs , two kangaroos , three flamingos , two lion-tailed macaques , two sarus cranes , four demoiselle cranes , assorted geese , and
5760-402: Was "a scientist, not an actor". Though there was a threat of a strike if he did not join the union, he maintained that it would compromise his principles, saying "Don't get me wrong. I'm with the working man. I worked like a dog once myself. And my heart is with the fellow who works. But I don't want some union delegate telling me when to get on and off an elephant." Eventually the union gave Buck
5840-477: Was a good friend of Buck's and frequently assisted him in his animal collecting endeavors. In 1946, after the end of WWII, Buck told The New Yorker he intended to return to animal collecting in Singapore, saying, "You dig the same old-fashioned pits and use the same old-fashioned knives and come back with the same old-fashioned tigers." It is unclear if Buck ever went animal collecting abroad again between
5920-469: Was a slick-looking young fellow. All dressed up. Chamois gloves and spats . A regular fashion plate, and handsome and likable, too." Buck was looking for pets "to keep in his hotel room". Otherwise, at that time, "there was nothing to link him to animals...except a modest taste for finches." Buck, who had formerly been a Chicago newspaperman, worked in publicity for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Hired by Frank Burt,
6000-415: Was also the main feature of Bring 'Em Back Alive , an NBC radio program promoting the film which aired October 30 – December 18, 1932, and July 16 – November 16, 1934. The follow-up book, Wild Cargo (1932), again co-authored with Anthony, also became a bestseller and was adapted into a 1934 film of the same title in which Buck once again portrayed himself and also served as producer . Armand Denis ,
6080-489: Was an American hunter, animal collector, and author, as well as a film actor, director, and producer. Beginning in the 1910s he made many expeditions into Asia for the purpose of hunting and collecting exotic animals, bringing over 100,000 live specimens back to the United States and elsewhere for zoos and circuses and earning a reputation as an adventurer. He co-authored seven books chronicling or based on his expeditions, beginning with 1930's Bring 'Em Back Alive , which became
6160-403: Was doing badly." Apparently Don Carlos "had no money", but Buck suggested Robison let Don Carlos use the orangutan on a percentage basis until the end of the exposition "in a few weeks". According to Robison, the orangutan "was a sensation. Within two weeks Carlos brought in $ 750 as full payment for it, plus $ 500 as the pet shop's percentage of the receipts." Meanwhile, Robison had an order from
6240-609: Was enthusiastic at first, telling reporters "We have the best zoo west of Chicago , and we are going to make it even bigger and better." However, Buck, a self-made , solitary, rugged, and independent-minded individual, soon clashed with the board of directors, particularly Wegeforth. Members of the board complained that Buck was unwilling to consult with them on everyday policy and frequently defied their directives; he constructed new cassowary cages of his own design in direct defiance of their orders, they said, and had bragged to board member William Raymenton about "putting one over on
6320-553: Was often reported as one of the more common of the eleven finch species. Until 1977, it was trapped in greater numbers than any other finch. From 1897, when finch trapping started in the Kimberley, it was the most sought after finch by trappers and the most desired by fanciers. Between the years 1934 and 1939, the Gouldian finch was the most exported single finch species. The Perth Zoo exported 22,064 finches of which 12,509 were Gouldian. Private dealers exported 35,315 finches, of which 14,504 were Gouldian. The number of finches taken in
6400-470: Was then involved in animal collecting for the next 16 years. Animal traders of Asia mentioned in Buck's autobiography include Yu Kee, "a Straits-born Chinese who had a godown ...in a little alley way off Cross Street " in Singapore, and Husad Hassan's bird bazaar in Moore Street , the "bazaar of Minas, a Portuguese-Hindu half-caste, on Parsee Church Street," and Atool Accoli. Buck describes Acooli as
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