Hey Blake,

Recently, my wife and I had a wonderful, impromptu lunch with my grandmother. Her father was a minister stationed here until she was a senior in high school in the late 1930s, and she hasn't really been back since. She asked us if there are still two zoos in New Orleans, one in City Park and one in Audubon. Is she crazy?

Ben

Dear Ben,

Your dear granny is certainly not crazy, but the "zoo" she remembers never grew into the world-class facility like the one at Audubon Park.

In the early days of development of City Park, the Park Board tried to preserve the wildlife in the area. In 1900, a fenced deer park was created. Originally near Metairie Road, the park was moved in 1906. When wild dogs living in the park began killing the deer, the deer park was eventually abandoned.

Over the years, there has been quite a collection of exotic critters residing in City Park. We've seen, among others, geese, swans, rabbits, pigs, peacocks, parrots, guinea pigs, pheasants, and mules. The park has been home to an agouti, an anteater, a fox, a ferret, a wolf and a bear. In 1899, park officials had to decline the offer of another bear because they didn't want a repeat of the dreadful event in which a prominent park visitor was attacked and killed by one. In the end, the park officials refused all donations of wild animals because of the cost and difficulty in caring for them.

Monkeys, too, have resided in the park. Twice there was an attempt to provide a home for them. The first was in a large cage, but the colony got bored and took to torturing birds that flew into their cage by plucking out their feathers. The naughty monkeys were expelled.

Another attempt to keep monkeys came when an old swimming pool was converted to a sea lion pool. In the middle of the pool was an island on which lived a colony of rhesus monkeys. One night, someone forgot to close the gate to the island, and the 12 monkeys took a powder. They scampered in all directions, and before we knew it they were all over the neighborhood.

One of the monkeys hid under a bus on Marconi Avenue. For fear of injuring the little guy, the bus was abandoned while the monkey scampered back and forth. However, he scampered right out into a waiting net after he backed up into the bus' hot muffler. Another playful fellow decided he liked the freedom of the trees, so he hung about, so to speak, on an oak branch over a lagoon. Removing him proved no problem. The fire department came with a hose that toppled the monkey right off the limb and into the lagoon where he was scooped up in a net. The rest of the errant monkeys were lured back to the island by a large pile of peanuts and bananas just inside the gate.

It was then, in July 1965, that the park officials decided to give up. The sea lions were sent to Audubon Park, but the monkeys were rejected. They ended up at Tulane University's Simian Center across Lake Pontchartrain.

As a result, a decision was made to give up forever the idea of maintaining any type of wild animal captive anywhere in the park.

Hey Blake,

I was born and raised in New Orleans, and one thing that I have always wondered about is: What are the wards?

Baby Nydia

Dear Baby,

A ward is a division of a city or town, especially an electoral district, for administrative and representative purposes. There are 17 wards in New Orleans.