The Peaceable Kingdom: A Year in the Life of America's Oldest Zoo

by John Sedgwick

Paper Book, 1988

Status

Available

Call number

590.74774811

Tags

Publication

William Morrow & Co (1988), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 413 pages

Description

The author details his experiences during a year he spent at the Philadelphia Zoo, sharing stories about the animals and the dedicated staff who care for them.

User reviews

LibraryThing member MrsLee
Perhaps one needs to be from Philadelphia, or be a zookeeper to like this book, I found it incredibly dull. On the one hand, with its old ideas of zoo keeping it was rather painful to read, on the other, there were not enough animal anecdotes for me. It had way too much information about the
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politics and business end of running a zoo. Lots of depressing stuff about the animals getting sick and dying. If you are looking for the nitty-gritty details of behind the scenes zoo keeping, you might enjoy this, but I was looking for something with humor and lightness.

I read at least half of this book, but did not finish it.
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LibraryThing member LibraryCin
This book takes a look at the Philadelphia Zoo and all the goings-on for a year in the mid-1980s. Not only do we meet some of the animals and learn their stories, but we meet many of the staff, as well as other people (including the “Wolf Lady”, who came every day to watch the wolves). Other
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events were included, such as the planning and building of a new building, then moving the animals into said building.

I really enjoyed this. Of course, I love animals, so it would have been surprising for me not to. It was interesting to get behind the scenes. You could see in the book where things were much better than they had been for zoo animals (moving from concrete/barren (i.e. sanitary) enclosures to more natural ones), but at the same time I hope other things have changed still (they were still using bull hooks on the elephants...). Of course, my favourite parts were stories of the animals, but I enjoyed “meeting” some of the people, as well. I think the author did a good job wrapping up the book, though the lives of both the people and animals go on.
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LibraryThing member mchwest
Fabulous book ,and great to read before heading to see the Philadelphia Zoo!!

Language

Physical description

413 p.; 9 inches

ISBN

0688063675 / 9780688063672
Page: 0.9021 seconds