This is a historical feature and not a critique on the conditions in Tampa's early zoos or their treatment of animals.

Back in the time of these zoos, the purpose of the exhibits was mainly to confine the animal and entertain the public.  Enclosures were often just small, concrete-floor cages built with little or no regard for the animals' instinctual behavior and minimal expenditures could not provide a healthy natural habitat. Often there was no secondary barrier to keep the public at a safe distance. Neglect, unsanitary conditions, and lack of experienced, professional medical attention were typical, as well as abuse by visitors. There was seldom any effort to cater to the animals' mental/emotional well-being and performing animals were sometimes trained using negative reinforcement, such as inflicting pain.

TampaPix is by no means an authority on the subject. If you wish to learn  about zoos from experts, read Thomas French's "A Zoo Story" and visit J. D. "Doug" Porter's blog.  Porter's long career was everything from animal keeper to zoo director, and he is an excellent author.  He was superintendent at Lowry Park Zoo from May 1984 to May 1988. 

While working for the City of Tampa Parks Department, Porter guided the aging zoo, once identified nationally as "the worst zoo in America," through a complete renovation and achieved the institution's first AZA Accreditation.  He  also  arranged  and  organized  the  two  main  sources of funding to privatize the new zoo.

(J. D. Porter career info from LinkedIn)

This site disapproves of and detests any form of mistreatment of animals.

DeSOTO AND THE INDIANS BARGAINED UNDER OAK TREE IN TAMPA                         

               By HAMPTON DUNN

America's very earliest history was written underneath the spreading limbs of a majestic oak tree here.  The giant tree, with a stretch of more than 120 feet, still lives and thrives in Plant Park, the campus of the University of Tampa.

It's called the DeSoto Charter Oak and legend has it that the Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto bargained with the Indians under the shade of the oak shortly after his landing in Florida in 1539.

Historians have battled through the years over the precise landing of the DeSoto party, but an official Commission appointed by Congress concluded the adventurer and his band of 500 men landed in Terra Ceia Island in Manatee County.  Some partisans claim DeSoto first landed at Phillippi Park on Old Tampa Bay in Pinellas County.

Be that as it may, there is no dispute DeSoto tarried in the Indian village at the mouth of the Hillsborough River, where Fort Brooke later was established and what eventually became known as Tampa.

Some writers contend that's tommyrot about DeSoto trading with the Indians under the oak tree; it's more likely, they say, he destroyed their village on the river, just as he did all other villages he overran.

Courtesy of the University of South Florida Library Digital Collections, Hampton Dunn Collection of Photouring Florida.
 

"Tampa's zoo began around 1937 as an animal shelter in Plant Park on the banks of the Hillsborough River near downtown.   It was started by city employees and originally consisted of a small collection of indigenous animals such as raccoons, alligators and an aviary with a variety of exotic birds."

The entrance to Plant Park with the University of Tampa in the background, Sept. 5, 1936.

Burgert Bros. photo courtesy of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library digital collection.

Three women looking at an alligator from a foot bridge in Plant Park, Sept. 11, 1936.  (slightly cropped) Sept. 11, 1936 Burgert Bros. photo courtesy of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System.

AND THE REST OF THE STORY GOES:

"As the zoo collection at Plant Park had grown, the animals were moved during the term of Mayor Nick Nuccio to the more centrally located Lowry park in 1957 where it was maintained by Tampa's Parks Department."
 

APR. 13, 1933 - GATORS ESCAPE IN FLOOD

Heavy rains caused the water level to rise high enough in the gators' pond allowing them to ride "on high water out of their peaceful pool to take a look at night life in the park."

Penn was alerted and most of the gators, which were not very large, were rounded up.  But several were missing.

JULY 7, 1933 - PENN GIVEN ROOMS AT UNIV. OF TAMPA

The trustees of the University of Tampa, formerly the Tampa Bay Hotel, approved of giving Marco Penn three rooms as living quarters as well as allowing the parks dept use of the garage to park their vehicles.

AUG. 19, 1933 - CALLIE PENN GOES TO WORLD'S FAIR IN CHICAGO
to perform her dancing skills with Frank Grasso's orchestra.  Grasso would soon become the voice coach and agent of Tampa's "Variety Girl" Mary Hatcher,  Hollywood actress.

NOV. 7, 1933 - BEEHIVE FOUND, BRING IN A BEAR

Marco Penn was involved at this time with some local treasure hunters who claimed they had a Spanish map and wanted to search for buried treasure at DeSoto Park.

Back at Plant Park, Penn found a hidden store of honey "for someone with the spirit of adventure in his blood."  He found a swarm of bees had built a hive inside a cornice at the north end of the roof of the University of Tampa building.  Since he knew nobody was capable of reaching that high, he brought in a two-year-old bear from Ft. Myers and was going to try to let the bear get at it.

NOV. 15, 1933 - BEAR GETS NEW HOME AT PLANT PARK

Pat, the "roly-poly black bear" brought in from Ft. Myers to take down a bee hive, was given a permanent home at Plant Park.  His pen was on the little creek in Plant Park where "all the kids in town may call, and feed him peanuts and candy.  He likes almost anything, but peanuts and candy the most."

BIRDS OF ALL KINDS, A BEAR AND OTTERS

WEEKLY REVIEW OF CLASSROOM AND CAMPUS ACTIVITIES IN TAMPA SCHOOLS. 

The Times carried a full page of articles written by students of local schools describing their recent activities every week. Some visited Plant Park on field trips and provide an account of what types of animals, especially birds, could be seen at Plant Park.  Some of the birds may have been in the wild.  This says there is an otter cage at the eastern part of the park which contained three otters, two are a mother and her baby.

These articles mention pigeons, wood ducks, mallards, geese, peacocks, sand hill cranes, macaws and Florida wild turkeys.  Most of these were probably being held captive except possibly the pigeons.  Several kinds of indigenous birds are mentioned, and both mention a bear and and otters.

HISTORY OF THE OTTERS

Below on the left, we learn the mother and baby otter are named Sally and Buddy, and they arrived about a month ago or more.  This would place their arrival before the March 31 Gorrie School article which indicated there were three otters in the cage.  The Apr. 22 article below says the third otter was Bill, who died from eating too many peanuts and other assorted foods.  It also claims that the otter home was vacant since Bill died, until Sally and Buddy were put in it.   Doubt on the chronology of the Apr. 22 article is caused by the last sentence which claims Sally and Buddy had only been away from their forest home for a few weeks.  How could that be if they've been at the park for over a month?

PAT AND THREE ALLIGATORS THREATENED BY FLOODS

Again in 1934 heavy rains caused a torrent of water to flood Plant Park, and parks supt. Penn had to rescue his pet bear, Pat, who nearly drowned in his den.  He was evacuated, which was no easy task, and housed overnight in the garage of the former hotel.

The article also mentions three alligators who were headed down the creek toward the river, and two were recaptured but one escaped.  This escaped gator would be located four years later. 

(More on this to come.)

MAYOR CHANCEY DONATES HIS "MEXICAN TIGER" TO ZOO

In Feb. 1935, Mayor Chancey received a gift from the Mexican consul in Tampa.  The Mexican tiger, as it was called, was left on the mayor's doorstep while he was out on a hunting trip.  The tiger was sent to Boyd's Sunoco Zoo located on Nebraska Avenue while Penn prepared a place for it at Plant Park.

The tiger gifted to Mayor Chancey was from Rafael Ruesga, the Mexican consul in Tampa.  Visitors were already going to Plant Park to see it, and "some of them have not been any too pleased at not finding him at home.  Penn was delayed in building the tiger's home due to having to obtain the materials to build it.

The tiger moved into his new home on Apr. 17, 1934 but had yet to be named.  Penn decided it should be up to the children of Tampa to give it a name, but apparently nobody took the initiative to organize some sort of official process to do so.  Friends of Chancey had previously thought that he had captured the tiger in the Everglades.

A month after the tiger moved in, the "Tampa city zoo" which was "scattered here and there" about Plant Park, received three "Mexican ant bears" with long inquisitive noses, the purpose of which was to dig "big Mexican ants out of their beds."  These were NOT bears, and you will see later that they weren't even anteaters.

THE TIGER IS AN OCELOT

The "Mexican" or Guerrero tiger is in fact, an ocelot, a wild cat that is native to Mexico, South America and the southwestern United States.  It is a medium sized spotted cat that is part of the leopard family, and is similar in appearance to a bobcat or jaguar. It usually is found in the forests of southern Mexico.

AN "ANT BEAR" WITH LIPSTICK IS STILL AN "ANT BEAR*"

A little over a week after the "Mexican ant bears" arrived, they were subject to abuse by a boy who thought it would be great fun to paint their noses with red lipstick.

Children who looked on laughed, but a policeman "without any sense of humor and no taste for lipstick" stepped in.  The boy was charged with destroying city property, even though the bears were ok.  Penn testified before Judge Watkins saying lipstick was not good for little bears.  The judge fined the boy $20, and suspended it providing he paint little bears' noses no more.
*The "ant bears" were white-nosed Coatimundi, a.k.a. "Mexican raccoon" as you will see later.

   PLANT PARK ZOO GETS A SECOND BEAR (SUZY)
 

SIX GATORS ESCAPE FROM PLANT PARK ZOO

A 25-lb. three month old female bear which was caught in the Everglades (by Penn, as revealed in a later article) was added to the Plant Park collection in the summer of 1935.  Future articles would only refer to her as "baby bear" or similar references and not by a personal name until 1938.

("Old Pat" was only about four years old.)

Another storm and floodwater allowed six gators to swim out of the creek.  Three gators were "induced" to return, the other three were "loafing in the shadow of the Lafayette street bridge.

ANIMALS SHOW CHANGES IN BEHAVIOR AS WINTER APPROACHES

As the Tampa version of winter approached, the animals already began to exhibit a change of behavior.  This article mentions alligators, turtles, a "little cinnamon bear,"  three "ant bears" (of which an upcoming photo will reveal were not anteaters at all) and the "water habitues" which would be any of the aquatic creatures. Though it seems to mention two more bears, the "big black hog bear" is the same animal referred to as "old Papa Bear" which was Pat.

ANIMAL ENCLOSURES CALLED "PITS" - OTTERS, GEESE AND BEAR MENTIONED

Jan. 13, 1936 - In a larger article titled "A Day at Plant Park," a reporter touches on three animals in the "animal pits."  The otters were the most popular, with their constant antics entertaining the visitors, especially the children.  A "bevy of Toulouse geese" beckoned visitors as "they raised their beaks to the wire enclosure to be fed by hand..."   Although there were two bears at the park at this time, only one is mentioned "Mr.-or is it Mrs. Bear" who "didn't particularly relish the warm day."

"SPRING FEVER" IN PLANT PARK ZOO

This article mentions two otters, three alligators, two "ant eaters," a small bear, a big black bear, and a Mexican tiger.  These weren't necessarily how many of each there were in the zoo, but more likely just the ones the reporter was able to see.

TEXAS HORNED TOAD ADDED TO THE ZOO--BRIEFLY

In late May 1936, Mayor Chancey received a horned toad from Texas with an invitation to attend the Texas Centennial exposition which was to open on June 6.  The toad arrived in a small cardboard box and was sent to Marco Penn to feed.  Penn gave it to Ben T. Sanborn, a clerk at the park department headquarters, with instructions to take him home and feed him some ants.  But Sanborn's wife didn't want it there, so he tied it up in his back yard to feed on ants.  Sanborn brought him back to the park office at Plant Park, in the original box, where he was kept while a worker was building a cage for him in the zoo.

TOADNAPPED

The next day, the toad was gone.  The cage was found empty and the Tribune played it up as a "Toadnaping." The cage was made without a bottom and apparently a lid which was not secured, so the toad probably hopped, knocked the lid off and escaped.  ("Kidnapper and kidnapped were both spelled with one "p" in those years.)

THE "ANT BEARS"

If this looks more like a fox than an anteater to you, you are not alone.  This is no anteater.

THE ZOO ACQUIRES FRED P. CONE

On Jun. 24, 1936, the zoo at Plant Park received a 12-foot long, 600 lb. gator which was captured by two supporters of Fred Cone for governor.  Naturally, it was to be named "Fred P. Cone" because "they are both original Floridians." 

Unfortunately, a week later, Fred was dead.  The gator, that is.  The Times supposed Fred must have been sick or injured before he wandered out on the road and was captured.  He looks rather healthy in the photo, even smiling.            

This article with four photos photos tells about zookeeper Joe Gustella's routines and the eating habits of the park animals at the time.  It included Pat, the big bear, and the 25 lb., 3 mo. old baby bear captured in late Jun. that year (Suzy),  four alligators, a lone otter (whose mother had escaped,) the Mexican tiger which apparently was not yet named, an "ant bear," and caged birds.  The otter (Buddy) is referred to as "Master Otter" and his mother (Sally) was "Mrs. Otter."  A later article would mention the tiger's name.

The photo caption on the right now refers to Master Otter, f.k.a. Buddy, now is "Otto." 

Below, Pat is referred to only as "the big brown bear."  The constant pacing is a sign of a mental stress due to repeated attempts to deal with a problem-- Like confinement in an insufficient living space.

TOURIST REGISTRATION & INFORMATION CENTER

The tourist registration/information center at Plant Park was located near the entrance of Lafayette St.  It also served as the park office where the horned toad was first kept.

Jan. 10, 1936 Burgert Bros. photo courtesy of the Tampa-Hillsborough Co. Public Library System.

Sept. 4, 1936 Burgert Bros. photos courtesy of the Tampa-Hillsborough Co. Public Library System.

This appears to be Pat, based on the appearance of Pat in the previous photo of Jul. 14, 1936.

An alligator which frequently escaped from Plant Park was seen in a canal at Davis Islands in early Nov. 1934 by a park employee who was unable to net him.  When he was away getting help, someone fatally shot the gator.

In Sep. 1938 a 300-lb. loggerhead turtle was captured in Old Tampa Bay and added as an exhibit at the Plant Park Zoo.

RATS ARE A PROBLEM IN PLANT PARK

Dec. 1938 - Rats of all sizes infested the rock embankments of the park stream near the river.  The spaces between the rocks provided the rats with small caves in which to live.  Visitors to the zoo seemed more interested in watching the rats' antics than watching the zoo animals.  The rats were also stealing the bears' food.

This is the last article that speaks of "bears" in plural.

SNOUT OR CLAW, TAMPA YOUNGSTER IS LOADED FOR BEAR
Oct. 7, 1949

A Tampa mother, Mrs. Joseph Longo, claimed her 20 month-old son Johnny was bitten by Susie, the "300-pound Plant Park bear."  (This was the THIRD bear at Plant Park, acquired shortly after the "original" Susie died.)  She says they stopped briefly in front of the bear cage and Susie stuck out her snout through an opening between the cage and the gate and clamped down on the youngster's "sitter" (rear end.)  She also said that she "clawed the bruin frantically to free the child," clawing the bear's face with her fingernails to force Susie to release her hold on Johnny. 

But City Park's Superintendent Sanborn said "Why that bear is harmless," and in  his opinion it was impossible for Susie to have made the bite through the three and one-quarter inch opening in the cage.  An eye-witness story had a different version.  James Sofianos, who sells peanuts from a wagon near the cage, said "the mother allowed her son to get too near the cage opening and Susie reached a paw through and struck the youngster." 

Sanborn said there was metal screen to protect children from such mishaps, but that visitors had pulled it away from the opening which Susie reportedly used in injuring the child.  He added that a metal plate would be welded over the opening to prevent this from happening again.

The reporter refers to Susie in the first photo as "her" and in the last photo as "he."

READ the entire Oct. 7, 1949 Tampa Times article.

THE TAMPA TRIBUNE HAD MORE TO SAY, AND SHOW

The Tribune story carried more details and featured a photo showing the gap in the wire mesh up higher along the gate, where the padlock was located. It appears that the gap here was wider, even though the bear isn't sticking it's snout through it.  When Mrs. Longo heard Johnny screaming, he "was caught in the bear's jaws through an opening between the cage and the gate."  She jabbed her sharp fingernails into the bear's nostrils for it to turn Johnny loose. She saw a "terrible torn place" where the bear had bitten and she rushed him across Lafayette St. to the Park theater, hold the wound tightly.  There, she found a doctor who called the hospital and another doctor to arrange immediate surgery.  A kind gentleman whose name she did not get drove them to the hospital.

The attending physician said the bite was "pretty severe" with the boy's right buttock sustaining a three-inch long, inch-and-a-half deep gash.  The bite just missed his rectum by a fraction of an inch, otherwise the gash could have been serious or even critical.  It took eight stitches to close the wound.  Once home, the boy continued to be traumatized and refused to go to bed.  When the reporter got there, they were still holding him trying to console him.

The attending physician told the reporter that he had "sewn up" a child several months ago, and afterward notified the City Board of Representatives suggesting that they do something about that bear.

B. F. Sanborn, Parks Dept. Supt., said he hadn't been "officially notified" that a child had been attacked.  It's not clear if this was in response to this incident or the one several months ago.  "It's hard to believe" said Sanborn, "That bear is such a PET."  He claimed that he repeatedly had put fine mesh wire across the opening, but that the public pushed it aside or tore it down so they could feed peanuts to the bear.  Johnny's father felt the City was negligent and planned to ask the BoR to pay Johnny's medical and hospital bills.

Mayor Hixon said the City would be glad to take care of the bills, and would take immediate precautions to see that the public is properly safeguarded from the bear.  He said, "We'll take care of it, even if we have to get rid of the bear.  I didnt know the bear was vicious, if I had received any such word, I can assure you the attack wouldn't have happened this afternoon."

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

"SUSIE" GIVEN ONE MORE CHANCE, MAYOR TELLS SANBORN TO "FIND A SAFEGUARD."

Mayor Hixon: "If an effective safeguard is not found, the city will get rid of the bear."  After the publicity of the Longo incident, Max Star called the Tribune to say his little grandson was scratched by Susie's claw through the opening two weeks earlier.  The tot was feeding Susie peanuts through the opening when the bear reached through and clawed his hand. 

It should be pretty obvious by now that visitors to the park who fed or allowed their children to feed the bear thought they should be able to feed a wild bear by hand if it's in a cage and not have it bite or gash you with its claw, as if being confined to a cage for years somehow domesticates them.

TRIBUNE READERS DEFEND SUSIE

C. R. ELFERS wrote the Tribune in defense of Susie, saying he frequently saw children molest the bear, many times more than she had molested children.   Children would delight in poking Susie with sticks if she was napping near the cage fence, as well as throw dirt into her face.  "In fact, they will do everything possible to disturb her."  All this, while the parents "stand by watching and will laugh.  To them, the acts of their children are funny."  When Susie can't stand it anymore, she gets up and walks away.  Elfers also said she needs a larger and more respectable home.  "The dilapidated and unsightly one she now occupies is a DISGRACE to beautiful Plant Park."  Elfers had the solution; "Build a new one, put a rail around it five feet from the cage, and have a heavy mesh fence attached to it so children can't crawl under it.   Susie will no longer be molested and incidents like the one just reported will stop."

A TALKING BEAR AT PLANT PARK ZOO
(The subject of this article was used earlier on this page when the bear was acquired.)

An article published on Nov. 19, 1955 attempts to show that the Plant Park bear thinks it's better off being in the zoo.  Reporter "Panky Glamsch" (surely a pen name) wrote in the form of an interview with the bear, who happens to be a talking bear, and freely shares her life events and especially her opinions with the reporter.  Text in italics is the bear quoting herself from previous events in her life.

The article starts with the bear, at Plant Park, speaking to the reporter "There I am, see, minding my own business, when along comes this dame and says, 'Oh, look at the poor bear--all caged in."

"I look at her, roll over on my back, and almost split the bars laughing to myself"  Just to keep the record straight, lady, I say, you wanna hear a little story?

The bear proceeds to tell about events that led to where she is now.  From the rest of the article we learn how she ended up at Plant Park.   Read the whole article: Sister Bear Decides Life in a Zoo Has Advantages, Nov. 19, 1955

Nuccio's margin was reduced to 125 votes after the recount.  $15,000 annual salary may not seem like much, but in 1956 it was like $146,071 is to us today according to U.S. Inflation Calculator.

There were three bear bite/clawing incidents in 1939 to 1940.  In all of the articles, the bear is referred to  in singular, instead of "one of the bears."  The last article mentioning Pat was in Feb. 1938, so these three 1939 incidents may have involved Suzy #1.