“No one person gave so much of his personal energy, interest, devotion and very life to the development of a public project as Doctor Harry gave to the creation of the Zoo.” | San Diego Zoo 100

The lions were prolific breeders, and lion cubs could be exchanged with other zoos to help build the San Diego Zoo's collection in the early days.

Dr. Harry rode his Arabian stallion La Sed around what would become the Zoo grounds to map out the canyons and mesas for the exhibits. He also planted a number of seeds around the Zoo. He’d poke his sharp pointed cane into the ground, drop a seed in, and stomp it with his foot, saying “If half these things grow, we’ll have a great place.”

In his diaries, Dr. Harry said of those early days:

“No one person gave so much of his personal energy, interest, devotion and very life to the development of a public project as Doctor Harry gave to the creation of the Zoo.”

—Tom Faulconer, Zoo Director 1923-1926

1919

Beginnings 1916 - 1926