Zoo Lessons

Most people are satisfied with visiting a zoo. British journalist Benjamin Mee bought one.

In 2006, he and his family purchased the barely functioning Dartmoor Wildlife Park. During the next year, Mee overcame huge obstacles to save the zoo. His book We Bought a Zoo (Weinstein Books, $24.95) shares the lessons he learned along the way.

To establish a hierarchy among his wolves, Mee fed them whole carcasses instead of joints of cut meat. The leaders would establish themselves at feeding time, then their urine would have a different smell, depending on what they had eaten. And the pack would have stability. The idea worked.

Tigers don't growl or roar, Mee says, they "chuff," sort of like giving someone the raspberry. Chuffing at them and having them chuff back in a friendly response "is a uniquely uplifting experience."

No two porcupine quills are the same.

To give his lions a puzzle to solve to get a treat, Mee placed food - in this case, the severed heads of bullocks - in the branches of the trees in their enclosure.

Peacocks are incredibly stupid. He refers to them as "pea-brains."

5 things we learned from . . . We Bought A Zoo

By Benjamin Mee (Weinstein Books, $24.95)

Most people are satisfied with visiting a zoo. British journalist Benjamin Mee bought one. In 2006, he and his family purchased the barely functioning Dartmoor Wildlife Park. Over the next year, Mee overcame huge obstacles to save the zoo. This book shares the lessons he learned along the way.
1. To establish a hierarchy among his wolves, Mee fed them whole carcasses instead of joints of cut meat. The leaders would establish themselves at feeding time, then their urine would have different smell, depending on what they had eaten. And the pack would have stability. The idea worked.
2. Tigers don't growl or roar, Mee says, they "chuff," sort of like giving someone the raspberry. Chuffing at them and having them chuff back in a friendly response "is a uniquely uplifting experience."
3. No two porcupine quills are the same.
4. To give his lions a puzzle to solve to get a treat, Mee placed food -- in this case, the severed heads of bullocks -- in the branches of the trees in their enclosure.
5. Peacocks are incredibly stupid. He refers to them as "pea-brains."

More new books: Animal & inhuman behavior

WE BOUGHT A ZOO by Benjamin Mee (Weinstein Books, $24.95). As a journalist, Benjamin Mee wrote a DIY column but was also working on a book about humor in animals. The two interests came together rather astonishingly when he moved his family into a 12-bedroom house in southwestern England that just happened to come with a zoo. Four days in, a jaguar escaped but, fortunately, it was found in the tiger's cage and the dustup was minimal, at least for two big cats. A few months later, a timber wolf made it to the local town and onto the national media. The neighbors were getting ornery. But Mee stayed determined. He'd bought the zoo as a fixer-upper and he was going do just that. His two small children were game though his wife, Katherine, was more bemused. Sadly, she died of a brain tumor in the 10 months it took to open what is now known as the Dartmoor Zoological Park to the public. Mee's story of how he mastered this domain and its 200 exotic animals is charming throughout and touching as well.

Between the lines: Animal magnetism
By Allen Pierleoni

If you want to sell a book, include animals in the story. Such conventional publishing wisdom may seem somewhat dated, but it still works with a segment of the national audience. For example:
"We Bought a Zoo" by Benjamin Mee (Weinstein, $24.95, 262 pages; Sept. 9): Animal behaviorist Mee realized a dream when he purchased the dilapidated Dartmoor Wildlife Park and moved his family onto the grounds. The inhabitants included tigers, lions, bears, wolves, monkeys – a 200-animal menagerie. The idea was to refurbish the park. But with money running low and emotions running high, a tragedy struck the family. Still, perseverance paid off, and the zoo opened in July 2007.

WE BOUGHT A ZOO by Benjamin Mee
Erstwhile newspaper columnist wagers all, and then some, by talking his extended family into taking a flyer on their very own zoo.
Writing a do-it-yourself column did not exactly qualify British journalist Mee (The Call of DIY, 2005) to take over a fading small zoo in the southwestern English town of Dartmoor. Neither did his university degree in psychology coupled with years of studying animal behavior, but at least that background helped him make up his mind. Mee convinced older brother Duncan to give up his London job, and their recently widowed 76-year-old mother yielded to his exhortations to sell the valuable family home, thus enabling the zoo purchase. He also had the sometimes strained support of wife Katherine, a graphic designer and brain-tumor survivor, and their two small children. His memoir principally recalls the events from October 2006, when they took possession of the zoo and rechristened it the Dartmoor Zoological Park, until the next July, when it was reopened. Mee’s initial underestimation of rehabilitation and operating costs meant a massive effort to secure additional financing. Then there were the vicissitudes of hiring and firing zoo help: again, not a game for the inexperienced. Yet, the process of getting to know the park’s 200 animals, from flamingoes and monkeys to wolves, lions, bears and jaguars, and of securing their care in the best possible captive environment, provided many heartwarming and heartbreaking moments. Tragedy intervened when Katherine’s tumor reappeared and proved ultimately fatal, but Mee fought through personal grief to bring the park to a successful reopening.
Replete with wry British perspective and facile rendering of the sights, sounds and smells only zoos can provide.