VISUAL CLUE ADDED OCTOBER 28
BONUS PHOTOS ADDED OCTOBER 28
Photos: David Marc Fischer
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16 comments:
For reasons obvious to some I must say you're at Sunnyside ... not in Queens, of course.
No...I wasn't in any Sunnyside. Which do you have in mind, anyway?
Thompkins Scare Park?
Sunnyside, the Washington Irving home in Tarrytown. A Halloween guess. Were you in Manhattan?
Scott: No, sorry--but love that name!
Dolph: What can I say except "d'oh!"? That Sunnyside was on the tip of my brain. Stoopid me. Anyway...no, I wasn't in Manhattan.
One of the millions of east village community gardens?
The Spanish-Portuguese Cemetery on W. 11th St. near Sixth Avenue?
Oops! Ignore my previous guesses. I didn't see that you weren't in Manhattan.
How about Prospect Park?
Debbie: Nope!
By the way, I hope everyone's noticed the really scary thing in the tree photo. I honestly don't know how it got in there!
La Tourette Park on Staten Island?
Brooklyn Botanical Garden?
Dolph: No.
Scott: Warm!
Staten Island Zoo?
Historic Richmond Town?
Coney Island aquarium?
Sorry, Debbie and David--and Scott. Gary employed that most devastating tactic--the dreaded swoop--in correctly guessing that I was at the Staten Island Zoo.
In a city that's home to the grand Bronx Zoo and the modernized Central Park Zoo and Prospect Park Zoo, the Staten Island Zoo is a modest affair, perhaps of most appeal to local families. During my visit it was deep in transition, the Halloween decorations having been used the previous weekend and--to my surprise--the well-regarded reptile house still under reconstruction. (If you don't live nearby and you plan to visit, I recommend making sure that the reptile house has reopened.) As the zoo's mission statement delicately puts it: "The Staten Island Zoo was also the first zoo anywhere to exhibit all the 32 varieties of rattlesnake's [sic] known to occur in the United States. In the late 1960's the Zoo maintained the most complete rattlesnake collection in the world with 39 varieties. Since it's [sic] opening in 1936, the Staten Island Zoo has been synonymous with snakes. This is due in great part to Carl Frederick Kauffeld, former Curator of Reptiles and Director. It was his focus on 'herps' (reptiles and amphibians) and particularly rattlesnakes that brought international status to our reptile collection. Harold J. O’Connell, the organizer of the Staten Island Zoological Society and Carol Stryker, the first Director of the Zoo, shared Kauffeld's passion for herps. O’Connell and Stryker were pivotal in establishing our reptile collection and were instrumental in raising the public’s consciousness of reptiles."
Walking the zoo's labyrinthine pathways (made even more maze-like by the construction work), I observed a variety of creatures--virtually all of the ones pictured here plus goats, sheep, horses, peacocks, deadly spiders, clownfish, anemones, piranhas, and many, many more. It's sad to see animals outside their natural habitats, apart from their own kind. Yet there are positive aspects to being able to study them up close--right smack in northern Staten Island.
On the way out, I noticed a plaque in honor of one of the zoo's veterinarians. Back to the website: "The Staten Island Zoo was...the first in the American zoo community to have a full time woman veterinarian on staff. In 1942 Dr. Patricia O'Connor, was hired as the Zoo’s veterinarian - a historic event. Dr. O'Connor was also co-founder and first President of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians and the first to serve two non-consecutive terms as President of the Association for Women Veterinarians."
How about that?
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