Dublin Zoo is one of the three oldest zoological gardens in Europe, founded by the (Royal) Zoological Society of Ireland immediately after the gardens in London. The zoo is also highly successful, and in recent decades the director (Leo Oosterweghel) has orchestrated a dramatic overhaul, altering and substantially enlarging most of its animal enclosures. Oosterweghel is also responsible for commissioning this volume...

In Dublin Zoo De Courcy has had the benefit of a rich manuscript record including the Zoological Society of Ireland's minute books, transaction books and collections of ephemera held in Trinity College Dublin and diverse other items still held by the Zoo itself. The book is lavishly illustrated from these collections, and other items that De Courcy has sought out. The text contains substantial detail on the day-to-day running of the Society and gardens and on events and periods of particular importance ranging from major purchases of animals and inevitable deaths to festive occasions. Chapters are organized chronologically and cover the period from the Zoo's foundation up to the present... 

This book will prove extremely helpful to those interested in animal studies and the history of zoos in particular as it provides access to material which has not previously been published. De Courcy [offers] useful comparisons to other European and international zoos. She also [shows] how the Zoo reacted to the political and social turbulence of Ireland in key periods such as the War of Independence, the First World War and the transition to the Free State. These twentieth-century developments are fascinating because they mirror the conflicted nature of Irish society. At the turn of the nineteenth century the Zoo had only begun to take full advantage of the numerous Irish connections to the British Empire through a new director, when the Great War and the Easter Rising occurred, effectively shutting off these links. De Courcy seems to read the mood of particular presidencies and periods well and takes a keen interest in personalities. Samuel Haughton, for example, appears as a colourful and influential figure in the Victorian period... De Courcy has discovered many new and interesting things about the Dublin Zoological Gardens/Dublin Zoo.

Out of print. New 2019 edition available from Dublin Zoo

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