. I was one of the first female keepers hired by the new Los Angeles Zoo in April 1966. Only the Children's Zoo was open then as the official opening was November of that year. Officially I was a Zoo Attendant and only Animal Keepers (who needed a Y-Chromosome were allowed to work in the "big" zoo. I worked with young gorillas, orangs, chimps, snow leopards, tigers, bears and got to raise a baby elephant. That exhibit contained the elephant, two (still spotted) Baird's Tapirs and a couple of young California Sea Lions. And, yes, the elephant did eat mackerel whenever she could steal them. . After the ERA passed we were allowed to migrate to the "big" zoo. My string had the Harpy Eagles, the Cat House (jaguars, leopards), binturongs, civets, genets, Howlers, marmosets and my favorites, the Mountain Tapirs with a few Patagonian Cavies thrown in. . After breeding the Mountain Tapirs and successfully raising the first one to survive in captivity, I co-authored an article in the 1979 International Zoo Yearbook with Mike Crotty, the Curator of Mammals. It had the exciting title of, "Breeding the Mountain Tapir (Tapiras pinchaque) at the Los Angeles Zoo." . Now I only portray exotic animals in my pastel paintings. But what memories I have . . .
