In 1868 there were 127,900 visitors to the Gardens, the receipts being £938 18s. 6d.
In 1869 there were 136,052 visitors, and there were in the Gardens 143 mammals and 219 birds.
In 1877 Miss Nesbitt presented the Gardens with a handsome aviary costing £350.
In 1878 a severe frost occurred, covering the lake in the Gardens with a sheet of ice 9 inches thick. A fortnight’s good skating was the result, and no animals were lost, owing to special precautions being taken to supply additional fuel for the stoves and extra straw for bedding. During the visit of the British Association to Dublin in August, the Council entertained at breakfast seventy-two of the most distinguished of the foreign and British visitors in the aquarium. There is, however, no record to show whether they were given anything else but fish! During this year animals were born in the Gardens, including three leopards. One hundred and nineteen carcases of beef, twenty-four horses, and seventeen sheep were used to feed the animals.
In 1879 ten lion cubs were born in the Gardens. Two Himalayan bear cubs were successfully reared during the year, a circumstance without parallel in the history of Zoological Gardens.
In 1880 five lion cubs and three leopard cubs were born in the Gardens. A polar bear and a bison were purchased. Thomas Flood, one of the keepers, was killed by the red deer stag, of which he had the care.
Over one hundred animals and birds were added to the collection in 1881; four lion cubs and one leopard cub were born in the Gardens.
In 1882 two young elephants were purchased from Burmah. In order to aid in the construction of a suitable house for them, a number of Fellows and Professors of Trinity College, Dublin, gave a series of lectures, which produced a net profit of £50.
In 1883 the first dog show was held in the Gardens. Four lion cubs, one red deer, and one yak were born.
In 1884 the dog show was made an annual event. The Egyptian pariah dogs, captured on the field of battle at Tel-el-Kebir, and presented by Lieutenant Cusack, produced puppies.