The zoo’s a fun place, but what’s the history behind it? Well, that’s more difficult to find out than you might think. In fact, the zoo’s beginnings seem to be kept under wraps.
While scrolling through the Wikipedia page for Julia Davis Park a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a paragraph that stopped me dead in my tracks. “In 1916, a circus traveled through Mountain Home. During the stop, a monkey escaped from captivity and was finally found in the Mountain Home Desert, long past the circus’s departure. Boise being the home for the newfound monkey, a Boise zoo was then founded.”
Intrigued, I contacted the zoo through their website to try to get more information about this mystery monkey, but received only a rather abrupt and dismissive response and a link to their website back from Director of Marketing & Public Relations Jeff Agosta.
Annoyed at the passive aggressive response, I went digging through the Library of Congress archives to see if I could find anything myself.
And here’s where things get weird.
I found a small article in a March 1908 issue of The Boise Citizen that references the zoo. In fact, the article states that the zoo’s animals “…have so long been a prominent feature of Boise heretofore only outdoor amusement resort.” The article discusses the managers of Riverside park’s decision to stop retaining the small assortment of animals and instead have them killed. The animals to be killed included a black bear, four gray wolves, a red wolf, two bob cats, one coyote, and one badger. I could find no further reference to if this plan was indeed carried out.
What is the discrepancy between the 1916 zoo’s opening story and the physical proof of some sort of Boise zoo existing in 1908? Was the Wikipedia story just an urban legend? Baffled, I reached out to the Public Archives to see if they could help me find anything. I spoke with a very helpful archivist named Elizabeth who informed me that no records of the zoo’s opening or early history could be found in the Public Archives. Elizabeth recommended that I try reaching out to the Boise Arts and History Archives.
Emboldened with my new mission, I drafted an email explaining my situation. However, my email was blocked and I received a “Recipient address rejected: Access denied” email back.
So why is everyone acting so shady about the zoo’s creation? Why are there records that don’t match up with the given explanation? Is this just a simple misunderstanding, or something more sinister?
