The Garden is open from early morning till late at night. Entrance 60 pfennig, children 30 pfennig. On the first Sundays of the months of May, June, July, August, and September for grown-up people the charge is 30 pfennig, and for children 15 pfennig. After 7 p.m. the price of entrance is less. On fête-days the committee reserve the right of raising the prices.
Season-tickets for families of 3 people are 20 marks; for more than 3 people, 25 marks; for one person, 10 marks; for students, schools, etc., 5 marks.
Shareholders have free entrance on showing their cards, which are not transferable. On fête-days the Director can order extra payment to be made by the shareholders. No dogs are admitted, and no teasing of the animals is allowed. No walking on grass or flower-beds, and no picking of flowers is permitted. No animals may be fed with grass or foliage, nor with cooked or raw meat. No one may get over the barrier, the penalty being eviction from the Garden; and the offender is also answerable for all damage done either to himself or to the animals.
After passing the turnstile, one is confronted with a large artificial rockwork grotto and waterfall. Passing through a second fine grotto, we see pheasant pens, and next to them some bear dens, the latter with hand-painted backgrounds. The lion house is brand-new, and well built and appointed. It contains a valuable collection of big cats, including several lions (one with a magnificent mane), two baby lions, and two baby servals a few weeks old.
It being Whit Sunday when I saw the Garden, the crowd was so great that one could scarcely get through the house. At the end of it was a well-executed stained-glass window, depicting two lions among rocks looking over a large open plain.
There are some large duck-ponds and a house for wading-birds. The antelope house contains nylgai, Oryx beisa, Oryx leucoryx, white-tailed gnus, several zebras, and a tiny black bear cub.
In another house was the finest collection of striped hyænas I have as yet seen together. There was a new and well-built monkey house, but the crowd was so dense that it was impossible, in the short time at my disposal, to see the whole of the contents of it. I noticed, however, some fine baboons. Crossing a bridge, you come to deer and buffalo pens together, with cages containing smaller animals. The Garden walks had just been re-covered with fresh gravel, and the deluge of rain soon converted these walks into two inches of mud, through which the crowds of men, women, and children were obliged to wade. It was almost impossible to take photographs, owing to the rain and the huge crowds of children, who would insist on collecting before the lens directly one took out one’s camera.
CHAPTER XXII
ZOOLOGISCHER GARTEN, DRESDEN: DIRECTOR, HERR A. SCHÖFF