ous firms, no less than a hundred thousand rubles. In 1903 the Zoo was again rented out, and again it fell into a state of utter neglect.
Destruction, complete and utter, was brought upon the Zoo by the tsarist troops and police during the December uprising of the heroic workers of the Krasnaya Presnya District. Cannon fire demo
lished the Aquarium, destroyed several other buildings and burnt down the priceless library of the Moscow Zoo. And once again, the “Society for Acclimatisation” had to take over the ruins of its undertaking and set to restoring the Zoological Gardens.
All the ideological aspirations of the directors of the Society had perforce to give priority to the bitter struggle for existence, the eternal search for funds and means wherewith to maintain the Zoo. It eked out a miserable existence and merely represented a mediocre
menagerie with half-starved animals locked up in rotting cages of wood. Prof. Kozhevnikov, the well-known zoologist, wrote, in 1907: “During recent years our own Zoological Gardens has occupied
our attention more from the viewpoint of its financial difficulties than from that of its tasks and organisational problems”.1
Under conditions of tsardom, matters could not have been otherwise.
In pre-revolution years the Moscow Zoological Gardens was neither a scientific or cultural institution, but merely served as a source of entertainment. Catering to the unwholesome tastes of the bour
geoisie, enterprising businessmen even stooped to exhibiting human beings besides the animals, making special charges to view such human exhibits.
Academician N. M. Kulagin recollects that “on some occasions,, for instance, when a colony of native Singhalese or Malay tribes
were shown at the Zoo, a special rate was established, from 50 copecks to a ruble, to view them. Some of the older attendants at the Zoo, who are still on the staff, having been working here for over forty years, relate, that in 1907, Samoyeds were exhibited. The infamous night orgies of the Moscow merchants in the Zoological Gardens are too well known to merit description.
Anton Chekhov and Prof. K. Timiryazev were both sharply opposed to this branch of “activity” of the Moscow Zoo. In his sketch “Conjurers”, Chekhov writes “Here, primarily we come across a strange attitude displayed by the Moscow public towards its scientific Zoo. It calls it by no other name than that of “Animal Cemetery”
Afoul stench, animals perishing from hunger, the management selling its wolves for hunting purposes, freezing cold in the winter and
blaring music during the summer evenings, the crackle of rockets, the clamorous noise of drunkards — all interfering with the sleep o such poor animals which have not yet died of hunger”.
1 “1857—1907 Jubilee Meeting of the Society for Acclimatisation of Animal--
and Plants”.
Destruction, complete and utter, was brought upon the Zoo by the tsarist troops and police during the December uprising of the heroic workers of the Krasnaya Presnya District. Cannon fire demo
lished the Aquarium, destroyed several other buildings and burnt down the priceless library of the Moscow Zoo. And once again, the “Society for Acclimatisation” had to take over the ruins of its undertaking and set to restoring the Zoological Gardens.
All the ideological aspirations of the directors of the Society had perforce to give priority to the bitter struggle for existence, the eternal search for funds and means wherewith to maintain the Zoo. It eked out a miserable existence and merely represented a mediocre
menagerie with half-starved animals locked up in rotting cages of wood. Prof. Kozhevnikov, the well-known zoologist, wrote, in 1907: “During recent years our own Zoological Gardens has occupied
our attention more from the viewpoint of its financial difficulties than from that of its tasks and organisational problems”.1
Under conditions of tsardom, matters could not have been otherwise.
In pre-revolution years the Moscow Zoological Gardens was neither a scientific or cultural institution, but merely served as a source of entertainment. Catering to the unwholesome tastes of the bour
geoisie, enterprising businessmen even stooped to exhibiting human beings besides the animals, making special charges to view such human exhibits.
Academician N. M. Kulagin recollects that “on some occasions,, for instance, when a colony of native Singhalese or Malay tribes
were shown at the Zoo, a special rate was established, from 50 copecks to a ruble, to view them. Some of the older attendants at the Zoo, who are still on the staff, having been working here for over forty years, relate, that in 1907, Samoyeds were exhibited. The infamous night orgies of the Moscow merchants in the Zoological Gardens are too well known to merit description.
Anton Chekhov and Prof. K. Timiryazev were both sharply opposed to this branch of “activity” of the Moscow Zoo. In his sketch “Conjurers”, Chekhov writes “Here, primarily we come across a strange attitude displayed by the Moscow public towards its scientific Zoo. It calls it by no other name than that of “Animal Cemetery”
Afoul stench, animals perishing from hunger, the management selling its wolves for hunting purposes, freezing cold in the winter and
blaring music during the summer evenings, the crackle of rockets, the clamorous noise of drunkards — all interfering with the sleep o such poor animals which have not yet died of hunger”.
1 “1857—1907 Jubilee Meeting of the Society for Acclimatisation of Animal--
and Plants”.