TheBanyanTree: Como Zoo

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Como Zoo is 90 years old and I think it’s one of the jewels of St. Paul.  It
’s part a huge park system, Como Park, that includes a golf course, swimming
pool, a lake with a band pavilion on its shores, picnic areas, and a glass
conservatory full of exotic tropical plants and ponds with goldfish.

We made the trek to Como Zoo every year when I was a girl.  It was a big
deal for my family, because my mother hated to travel and driving 10 miles
to visit a zoo was traveling to her.

Back in my day all the animals were kept in metal cages stacked two stories
high with outdoor cages and indoor cages.  When we would go into the
building to see the indoor cages, the smell would almost drive us out.
Inside the smelly building, there were HUGE tortoises we could ride if they
felt like walking.

There was a bird area with a pond and it had ducks and flamingos and other
birds.  The zoo had large chain linked pens with buffalo and giraffes and
bears.

There was Monkey Island, a huge rock pile in the middle of a pool of water.
The monkeys were on the island and the pool was full of loud mouthed seals
begging for fish.  We could buy bags of fish from a small hut near the pool
and feed the seals while they howled at us demanding more.

I could go on the rides after we finished touring the zoo.  I remember they
had a small train and pony rides.

We took the grandsons to the zoo yesterday.  It was a perfect day –
comfortable temps in the 70s, sunny, no wind, and because of that, I knew
the zoo was going to be crowded.  It took us about 20 minutes to find a
parking spot.  Como Park doesn’t have many parking lots, because it’s an old
park and back in the distant past people got to the zoo on public
transportation.  So we drove round and round until we got lucky when someone
was pulling out and we were right there to pull in.

The cages are long gone.  Most of the animals live in habitat friendly
environments.  There is a monkey house with gorillas and orangutans.  The
tortoise giving free rides is gone.  The bird pond is still there, but it’s
been modernized.

Monkey Island has no residents except some pelicans.  There are still
swimming seals in the pool around Monkey Island, but they’re quiet.  We can
longer feed them fish.

The polar bears have a pool to swim in.  The big cats have a huge area to
roam.  We saw lions taking naps and a tiger swimming in its pond.

The chain link pens are still there, but they have reinforcements to keep
the animals away from the people.

And the rides are there as well, but no pony rides and the small train is
gone.  The rides are so cheap, we were able to let both boys have several
rides for just $10.

As we wandered through the zoo, I could feel the ghosts of my mother and
father, who spent time there as children, and perhaps my grandparents did,
too.  Now I’m continuing the tradition of  family visits to the zoo.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.polarispublications.com
Be a star!

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

To him in whom love dwells, the whole world is but one family.
~Buddha