Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh yes! Any of these wonderful creatures can be viewed at your public zoo. Whether it be the Bronx Zoo, or the Santa Barbra Zoo, or a wildlife zoo where it almost feels like you’re in the animals’ natural environment, zoos have become a major industry and attraction – though it is met with criticism from animal rights activists who believe that all animals should be in their natural habitat.
On this day June 10th, in 1793, the Jardin de Plantes is the first public zoo created. This is at a truly precarious and intriguing point in history as this was in the middle of the French Revolution. This revolution was the first modern European revolt against a monarchy.
This zoo is in Paris and is called Jardin des Plantes (garden of plants) due to its 56-acre botanical garden. These animals, many of which were exotic, were in private hands (bourgeoisie most likely) and were either going to be killed, stuffed and donated to Jardin des Plantes, but luckily many of them were kept alive. Jardin des Plantes was used by Henry VIII by order of his physician, and in 1640 it was opened to the public as a botanical garden.