The First 21 Years: The Singapore Zoological Gardens Story (1994 - Ilsa Sharp) is an excellent history book about the famous Singapore Zoo. The publication is a large-scale, coffee-table style hardcover with 174 pages and hundreds of photographs. I recently purchased a copy via eBay and it was well worth the cost. I realize that many of my zoo nerd friends with impressive home libraries already own this book, and so in many ways this review is for those that have not purchased it.
The story begins in January 1968, when Dr. Ong Swee Law, Chairman of Singapore's Public Utilities Board, first broached the idea of a zoo. Dr. Ong Swee Law would go on to play a major role in the zoo for the next couple of decades and beyond, and the first chapter of the book (circa 25 pages) makes for fascinating reading as it is all about the 5 years of planning it took to set up the zoo.
Chapter Two begins with the grand opening (June 27th, 1973) and there was "a collection of 272 animals representing 72 species held in about 50 enclosures on a 28-hectare site" and the entrance fees were $2 per adult and $1 per child under the age of 12. The zoo was an instant success, although there was a 37% decrease in annual attendance the following year when the initial novelty wore off.
There are a further 6 chapters on: the design of the moated exhibits, orangutans (the zoo's flagship species), the booming success of the 1980s, visitor amenities, the daily shows, and a celebration in the early 1990s with lots of new animal exhibits. The culmination of the publication is the opening of the unique Night Safari, which basically takes up the final 6 pages of the book.
I enjoyed the fact that the book, which was published by the Singapore Zoo, was honest in its criticism of the zoo's early days. For instance, partly due to the zoo having an "open concept", there were numerous early animal escapes. Two sun bears got out in 1973 and one had to be shot. Two jaguars escaped the same year and fortunately went back into their enclosure. A black panther escaped and wandered the forest surrounding the zoo for an incredible 11 months before finally being killed by being set on fire inside a storm drain! A hippo got out for 52 days, an eland for 11 days, and even a tiger briefly got out, before the zoo spent $100,000 Singapore dollars in 1974 on improvements on security. In the 1980s the zoo spent over a half-million dollars over the course of 8 years to replace the numerous steps around the grounds with ramps and smoother sections, as the steps were an annoyance to anyone with a baby stroller or a wheelchair. It seems that it took at least a decade or more for Singapore Zoo to iron out its flaws.
It is a bit cringe-worthy to see all of the photos of visitors holding orangutans or posing with those apes for pictures, but such events did bring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the zoo each year. The saga of dead gorillas, with all 4 at the zoo dying in 8 months between late 1983 and August 1984, is shocking. The zoo tried again with two more gorillas in 1992, only for another to die and the last one quickly sent away back to its original zoo. The 5 dead gorillas all succumbed to Pseudomonas pseudomallei, hence the zoo has never had gorillas again and likely never will.
Overall, the book does a wonderful job of capturing the first 21 years of the zoo's existence. The lush vegetation, large group of 26 orangutans all together, polar bears in the tropics, the fact that the zoo has always been geared towards families, the massive investment in the 1980s and 1990s, etc., is all explored in detail. A grand total of 20 new animal exhibits were opened in the zoo's first 21 years, a remarkable rate of expansion and growth. I would be first in line if the Singapore Zoo were to publish a new history book on events that have occurred since 1994.
