The Wild Animal House in the Retiro Park
Nearly 350 have passed since the existence of la Pajarera, or bird house in the gardens of the Buen Retiro Palace through to the modern facilities of the Zoo-Aquarium in the Casa de Campo, and in that time exotic animals have gone from being displayed for our curiosity to become the subject of biological studies for the conservation of endangered species.
The Zoo in the Casa de Campo opened on 23 June 1972 and covers an area of 20 hectares. Its road network measures some 7 km. and under its paved walkways run another 60 km. of water, gas and electricity pipes.
The Madrid Zoo-Aquarium is actively involved in collaboration with universities and scientific institutions, and is also developing an ambitious project of artificial reproduction techniques with the creation of a sperm bank which will in future be used to safeguard the survival of species doomed to extinction.
The facilities are designed in the form of a theme park, with three different ecosystems: an area dedicated to land animals from the five continents; a water mammal complex with a dolphin show in an amphitheatre seating 3000 spectators, and an enormous aquarium dedicated to the fauna and flora of the tropical seas.
The forerunners of the wild animal house
In 1774, Charles III ordered the construction of a park for animals in what is today the Cuesta de Moyano hill, near Atocha station, on grounds which were part of the gardens of the Buen Retiro Palace. This facility was designed to supplement the project for the Natural Science Museum which he intended to locate where the Prado Museum is today, next to the Botanical Gardens; of this first zoo we know that it contained birds originally from the Americas, and there is also a record of the arrival of a boat in Toulon (France) from Constantinople with camels, dromedaries, pairs of elephants, lions, tigers, pelicans and more than 20 mules.
In 1786, Don Juan Bautista Bru de Ramón drafted a memorandum concerning the Royal Office of Natural Science, indicating that it was impossible for the animals to reproduce because of their cramped cages and lack of freedom when they were on heat; at this time the study of animal reproduction in captivity was in its infancy, and was of course extremely basic.
In the 18th century, the animals in the zoo came fundamentally from Spanish America, and were sent by the viceroys and governors of those regions. These included macaws, parrots, toucans, ocelots, pumas, capuchin monkeys, snakes, alligators and some more exotic animals such as an elephant, a gift from the Philippine ambassador which, once it had disembarked in Cadiz, had to make the journey to Madrid on foot.
At the end of the century, the zoo facilities were moved to the corner of the Retiro Gardens, next to the current Puerta de Alcalá arch, with the cages arranged in the form of a bullring, but in an octagon; in the middle were the herbivores and tame animals such as deer, roe deer, gazelles, llamas, alpacas, ostriches... and in the surrounding cages, known as the "lions' den", some of the wilder animals.
The Wild Animal House in the 19th century
With the arrival of Ferdinand VII, the facilities of the Wild Animal House were enlarged and improved, and it became known as the Royal Office of Natural Sciences, a name which remained until 1972, when it moved to the Casa de Campo; an artificial mountain was built in one corner of the Retiro, known as the Mountain of the Cats, the Russian Mountain or the Mountain of the Bears, as these were the animals on display there. Nearby there were pens for herbivores, which continued on to the big cats' cages - a copy of the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris- which were arranged in a line, and ther was also an upper level with rooms for use by the king. The number of animals in captivity increased greatly; this much is known because the animals that died were taken to the Science Museum to be stuffed and mounted, and there exists a full record of the consignments.
Isabel II again extended the animals' premises, and built a second courtyard for herbivores; animals were also bought from a well-known merchant in Marseille, including a pair of elephants. The female died shortly after arrival, and the male refused to eat and died a few months later; the elephant's 'death for love' was much talked about, although pneumonia appears to have been the actual cause of death. The cage thus became available for the elephant 'Pizarro', who arrived by way of a circus, and who deserves a mention all to herself.
With the 1868 Revolution the Retiro park opened to the public and the town council took over its care, surveillance and maintenance, including the Wild Animal House; the problem arose with the vandalism by the public and from the high maintenance costs which made it necessary to auction off the extra animals -particularly birds- to obtain funds and to be able to make purchases from the dealers -usually with circus connections. This was the case of Luis Cavannas.
The Cavannas family
In 1884, the town council realised that the management of the Wild Animal House had led to its ruin: with running costs of 50,000 ptas. (€ 300) a year, only 1,900 ptas. (less than € 12 a year) was taken in admissions in the same period, and the auctions were not enough to balance the budget. For this reason, in 1895 it was agreed that Luis Cavannas should be awarded the rights to run the zoo.
More facilities were built, which have lasted to this day -the council's buildings in the Retiro park - and Cavannas was permitted to use the facilities to display his own private collection of animals to the public.
His particular approach to the running of the zoo made him extremely popular; he personally led one of the crocodiles to sunbathe in the park; the elephant was taken every day to have a bath in the pond, known as the "elephants' bath" -it was later used as a bath for dogs; he negotiated with the cycling association to enable the use of the park for bicycle traffic, and organised spectacles involving animals fighting bulls in the main cities in Spain.
The fights between bulls and wild animals, in which the bull usually won, took place in the bullrings in a large cage placed in the centre of the ring; the animals used for these fights were reject wild animals who were either sick or very old. On one occasion in 1904 in the bullring at San Sebastián, a tiger turned on the bull and brought down the cage which separated them from the spectators, and once on the sand, the fight continued. The public panicked and produced weapons of all shapes and sizes, and the event ended with one man dead, 17 injured and the suppression of these spectacles by the governing authorities.
The daily walk to her bath by the peaceful female elephant, "Pizarro", - she was the circus partner of another elephant known as Cortes- ended abruptly one morning when she escaped from her trainer, and in her flight down the Calle Alcalá entered a shop, thus giving her own personal demonstration of that popular Spanish expression featuring an elephant and a china shop.
On 31 December, 1918, the town council ordered the confiscation of the Zoo in the Retiro park, due to the renunciation of the contract with the Cavannas family, which since Luigi's death had continued managing the zoo through his son José.
Cecilio Rodríguez's idea
The arrival of Cecilio Rodríguez as the Town Council's Head Gardener saw a change of direction, as one of his responsibilities was the management of the Wild Animal House. His idea was to transform the area into a Spanish Garden along the lines of the Maria Luisa park in Seville.
With the arrival of the Republic, Don Cecilio was "retired" and the park went through a serious dearth of animal acquisitions; the trials and tribulations caused by the Spanish Civil War left the park practically on the point of closure. Several of the animals died of starvation, and others were slaughtered for human consumption, including three yaks and various other bovines.
The end of the war saw Cecilio Rodríguez reinstated in his post as manager, and the outbreak of the war in Europe also meant that the park in Madrid was in an enviable situation due to its neutrality. It received animals evacuated from different zoos in European capitals, particularly from Berlin, efficiently arranged by doctor Lutz Heck.
Cecilio Rodríguez died in 1953, after having carried out major improvements in the park and a skilful management of its resources; this task was continued by his successor, Don Ramón Ortiz.
The park received animals from the Munich zoo, new bears, lions and tigers, and even a black jaguar, and a wonderful collection of primates, together with other private contributions; a veterinary clinic was set up, and the public began to show its recognition of its excellent management. In the years prior to the move to the new zoo premises in the Casa de Campo the admission figures for visitors were truly astonishing: 20,000 visitors on certain public holidays, with over a million and a half visitors in 1967. It had more than 550 animal specimens, corresponding to 83 species.
In 1972, the old Wild Animal House in the Retiro park closed its doors for the last time, and the new Zoo opened in the Casa de Campo; over the years this has become the Zoo-Aquarium theme park that can be visited today, one of the largest in Europe.
