Mister Zoo: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Charles Schroeder, The World-Famous San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park’s Legendary Director.

The Zoological Society of San Diego, (1999). Octavo, black cloth & green leatherette (hardcover), gilt letters and stamp to upper cover, illus. endpapers, 271 pp. Fine in a Fine dust jacket. From dust jacket: “I hate wire!” So said Charlie Schroeder, and the result was a zoo revolution. Stroll through any modern zoo and marvel at the wonder of seeing a tiger, a rhino or perhaps a gorilla with seemingly nothing but air between you and the wild animal, and you’ll be feeling the incredible, personal impact of Dr. Charles Schroeder’s vision. Veterinarian, scientist, visionary, leader, political genius, taskmaster, mentor, con man, rascal, P. T. Barnum in a suit and tie -- Charlie Schroeder was all these things as the World-Famous San Diego Zoo’s legendary director. With is 1,000-watt smile and his talent for making good ideas come to life, he touched millions in his lifetime while becoming beloved as “Mr. Zoo” to the zoological world. The San Diego Zoo, emulated around the globe for its trailblazing moated enclosure design, has been called The Zoo That Schroeder Built. He transformed the Zoo created by animal-loving surgeon Dr. Harry Wegeforth into the open-air botanical garden of endangered and rare species it is today. Yet his most amazing legacy may be The Park That Schroeder Built -- the San Diego Wild Animal PArk, where the borders between a zoo and the wild blur. A captive breeding ground for zoo populations and an ark for endangered species, it is considered the zoo of the future. Colleagues and admirers hailed him as a pioneer in zoo pathology and dean of zoological circles, but above all, as a modern Noah -- the conservation visionary who built the Wild Animal Park, which is now the zoo world’s envy. Yet without his can-do charm, the Wild Animal Park would never have existed. The battle for the Park, Charlie’s last, greatest untold legend, is as exciting as a novel. And better yet, his life story is as dramatic as a movie. Born in the Bronz at the turn-of-the-century, he grew up swimming in the polluted East River, worked his way across the country in a Model T to attend vet school, contributed to the medical miracles of anibiotics and polio vaccine, then fostered a revolution in the zoo world. Today, every animal lover reaps the benefits of his full-hearted fight for the future of the “zoo” in general as a viable institution in our modern, wildlife-threated, species-dwindling world. (Inventory #: 51721bd)