A New Deal for our National Zoo: The WPA created larger, and more natural areas for the zoo animals

Above: WPA-constructed waterfowl ponds at the National Zoo (Washington, DC), 1940. Photo from the annual report of the National Zoo, fiscal year 1940.

Between 1935 and 1940, WPA workers created larger and more naturalistic areas for the animals at the National Zoo (Washington, DC). For example, a bigger cage and outdoor roaming area was created for giraffes and four new waterfowl ponds were created, "much larger than the old waterfowl yard..." In addition to larger areas, WPA workers also created more naturalistic environments. Instead of relying on cages & bars exclusively, moats were created to separate animals from zoo visitors. This was done in several areas, including the bison, camel, bear, and outdoor reptile exhibits. (Information and quote from the Zoo's various annual reports between 1935 and 1940.)

The idea of replacing cages & bars with moats started with Uraus Eggenschweiler (or Urs Eggenschwyler), and others, in the late 1800s / early 1900s. From the outset of the New Deal, these new ideas were put into place. For example, the Final Report of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) noted: "The Illinois report [on emergency work-relief] tells at length of the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, built by the CWA and the Work Division [of FERA] according to the new zoo ideas of Uraus Eggenschweiler, who in Zurich was displeased with 'the paradox of portraying wildlife in cages and behind bars,' and who invented the 'concealed or partially concealed moat which presents an impassable barrier to the would-be escaping beasts, and no barrier to the eye of the observers'" (p. 95).

There will always be some controversy about the ethics of keeping animals in zoos; but at least the  New Deal helped create better day-to-day conditions for the animals.