The San Diego Zoo continued to be a favorite place for military personnel in San Diego, who spread the word about the Zoo once they returned to their home towns. Here, Gertie the Galápagos tortoise says hello. Gertie actually had some interesting tales to tell, if he could have: he had actually been to Hollywood, with a part in the film Malaya with Dorothy Lamour and Jack Haley. He played a rock that Jack Haley's character sits on—then leaps up from when the

Colonel Milton McRae donated $1,000 to build the small mammal cages that opened at the Zoo in 1944.

The birth of two male jaguar cubs put smiles on the Zoo staff faces in 1944. All went well for the first six weeks, but then for reasons unknown, the mom stopped caring for her cubs. Hungry and dirty, the brothers were taken to the Zoo’s hospital for care. After a thorough scrubbing, their first meal of ground meat, egg, and milk was gobbled with abandon. But with a full tummy at last, their natural instincts kicked in, and they became quite a handful! Veterinary hospital keeper Emily Burlingame took great pains to eventually gain their trust, so they could safely be handled. All the effort put forth to save and raise the young cats was more than worth it, however. They thrived, becoming sleek, graceful adults. Emily described them “…as tough as two boots, probably as fine a pair of cats as there is in the world!”

Both Ups and Downs

While the Zoo had reduced its total number of animals by 1944 in response to rationing and shortages, some things continued to increase. Attendance, aided by hundreds of military personnel, reached more than 600,000 for the year; and building projects continued, like a second entrance gate near what is now Spanish Village, and new small mammal exhibits, funded by a $1,000 donation from Colonel Milton McRae. The Zoo was even featured in a Hollywood film again, when the bears made an appearance in San Diego, I Love You—and Time magazine wryly commented that they were probably the best thing in the show.

1944

War Years 1937 - 1946