ZOO VERY HOT FOR SUMMER
Can you feel the summer heat weave? It is soooo freakin’ hot that you can almost fry your favorite egg dish onto the concrete street. Summer allows me to reminisce on such wonderful memories of previous trips, holidays and vacations. I for one have been traveling the world since I was two years old, but I also got the chance to check-out certain places in my homeland that can be considered as something fun when I was still very young. One such fun summer trip which I was able to enjoy fully as a kid was our Manila Zoo tour. I believe was way back in the 80’s when I and some kids my age found animals and playgrounds quite fascinating. I must admit that during those days, Manila did hold a lot of picturesque parts that was way better than the huge shopping malls we have today and the cartoons that kids are so engrossed with in cable channels.
Above: Manila Zoological & Botanical Garden
On July 25, 1959, the Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden was launched. I remember my uncle telling me that this was a very unforgettable day for him for it was his birthday and he was quite excited about this zoo which was a long time coming. The Manila Zoo was supposed to be a substitute to the old zoo that had only a couple of cages found within the pre-war Mehan Gardens. I recall my uncle telling me that the most prized and favored animal in that place was Goyo – it was a very large elephant. I remembered that when I went there as a child, I saw animals like bears, crocodiles and monkeys. A bit of history is still embedded in my head when it comes to the war story where the gardens fell to really poor conditions and that Manila was lacking of a zoo more than a decade.
Several calls for the rebuilding of a new zoo created a buzz that in turn caught the interest of the press. The then mayor of Manila, Mayor Arsenio Lacson in the 1950s devised a plan to put up a zoo. He started to implement the plans by making sure that his engineering department would search for a bigger location compared to the Mehan Gardens.
Some of the choices they had were the “Quezon Memorial Park” which is located in the elliptical circle. Another option was the Manila Bay Beach Resort which happens to be a national park and is currently the site of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Though the area and space were large enough, it was considered improper due to the fact that it was not within Manila’s boundaries. They were able to find the perfect spot for the zoo and it was to be done inside Harrison Park. To date, the park has the Harrison Plaza as well as the Central Bank. Their locations were primarily allocated as a huge hundred-hectare park which was suppose to be modeled after the 1905 Burnham master blueprint plan for Manila.
The chosen area had to be vacated since squatters were actually living on that area. They were eradicated with a ‘50s approach to fast eviction. In order to expand and host the new zoo, the place needed to cordoned five and a half hectares. The city’s treasury allocated P300,000.00 for the project at hand and Senator Gil Puyat was able to contributed an equal amount from his very own funds. Unfortunately, the finances present were still insufficient. Because of this, Doru Valencia, a very prominent Manila Times columnist championed a fundraising campaign. With this, they were able to raise another P120,000.00 for the project and then P50,000.00 was given by the municipal staff – coming from their own salaries. With a sum total of P770,000.00. it was finally adequate enough to finish the zoo and its gardens.
The chief attractions of the zoo were the elephant and monkey islands. Another favorite is a replicated African veldt and a rocky hill. When you go to the Monkey Island, you will sight two aviaries, one is for raptors and the other happens to be for the smaller birds.
Undeniably, the zoo was a smashing hit with the public. There was an estimated number of over a million visitors in the first few months that the zoo opened. Animals were constantly being donated especially during the first years as the recognition of the zoo increased. From the well-known families in Manila, they started to give to the zoo animals such as deers, burros, hawks and eagles to add to the attraction. Herons, grass owls, wild doves and turtles were given by the Davao Penal Farm. The mandarin ducks were donated by China while Japan gave the zoo some monkeys and deers. Australia also contributed some animals like kangaroos, cockatoos and some ostriches. The peacocks and leopards on the other hand, were donated by Vietnam. A 500-pound lion cub named Melvin was presented by The Cape Town South Africa Lions Club, through its Manila Lions Club counterpart.
The Manila Zoo had become a must-see place in Manila and would always be a part of a tourist’s itinerary. It continued to be a place that had to be visited for over two decades. The first-year record of over two million guests in that zoo lingered steadily for more than a decade.
Soon enough, the zoo began to lose its luster. The maintenance of the zoo started to be too expensive and the zoo animals started to get ill and were dying one by one. The penguins that were given by Chile soon died because of the heat. During the 70s and 80s, uptown places such as the shopping malls, movie houses, and country clubs (for those who had more money), indicated the imminent fatality of the dying zoo along with its botanical garden. All throughout the 90s, the zoo was still visited by schools that were having their field trips but by then, the amount of animals seen there was but a handful.
Then, a plan was devised to restore the zoo’s popularity. This was instigated in the mid 1990s. Unfortunately, several debates coupled with the Asian crisis in the late 90s paved way for just a minute restoration that included the start of a petting zoo for young children.
Next year, Manila Zoo will be commemorating its golden anniversary and it would be great if the zoo would have acquired its previous splendor. If you would compare Manila Zoo to other botanical gardens and zoos in Asia, it is actually a very small facility. Singapore alone has a 75 hectare land for its zoo and botanical garden. Nonetheless, it can once again be made into a major destination for our local as well as foreign guests. I think it is safe to consider Manila Zoo as one of the minor parcels of land that has with it adult tress and mature vegetation. Let us not fail to state that the zoo has a practical aviary as well as being the location of the country’s most complete reptile house.
I believe that if Manila Zoo can be revived as a successful park along with a small botanical garden which will serve as well as create fantastic memories for both the young and old alike for another 50 years. Being on the practical side, I do not think that they should make it into a full blown zoo like before. I think a zoo would be better hosted in a much bigger facility, most probably in Quezon City wherein the UP Aboretum is being projected to be remade into a National Botanic Gardens.
Cheers to our summer memories and don’t forget to have your hat ready and to hydrate often!
