Archive for the ‘Animal Attractions’ Category

In the early nineteenth century, a famous Irish political leader named Daniel O’Connell of Cahersiveen, County Kerry, had a donkey that he called Valiante. An old wives’ tale suggested that if a child had the measles, whooping cough, or any other childhood ailment, he or she could be cured by passing under and over O’Connell’s donkey […]

What happens when an Indiana bear, a Harlem goat, a large crowd of people, and a Wild West cowboy with a silver-plated revolver all come together at a beer garden on the beach? Yes, the following story is from my file called “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up.” On January 8, 1886, two Harlem men […]

Fred Sauter did a thriving business stuffing deer, bears, lions, birds, monkeys, and even pet dogs and cats in his large warehouse at 42 Bleecker Street .

This story is not for the squeamish but it’s an important story to tell as it says a lot about society in New York City beforer the Civil War. Plus, there’s a lot of talk about Russian bears in the political news these days, so it’s a timely tale to tell.

Part 3 of a 3-part story about Isaac Van Amburgh, the Richmond Hill estate in Greenwich Village, and New York’s Zoological Institute in the Bowery