This book by Diane Ackerman begins in Poland in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s in the city of Warsaw. Jan Zabinski and his wife Anotonina, own their a zoo. It is a privately owned by successful on near the outskirts of town.
Antonina was the glue that held the zoo together. She had a way with animals as she could seem to understand their sounds, movements along with their eyes as to what is going on in the life of the animals. In fact, she would bottle feed the baby animals until time they were allowed to be on their own and she delivered many babies of the animals. She stated she delivered a 270 lb elephant once and had a difficult time delivering a baby giraffe, as they deliver standing up and have to be careful it doesn’t come out on its head.
The zookeepers wife was the liaison between the zoo and the public. She showed the important and rich people around the area and charmed many into giving a donation. She was very valuable around there.
Things were going well until 1939 when the Germans decide to invade Poland and was taking people to the gas chambers. Supplies weren’t coming in and animals were dying. Antonina made the decision to hide many of the Jews that the Germans wanted to kill in the animal pens and recesses of the zoo.
So….. was she successful or did they get caught and punished? Read the great book authored by Diana Ackerman.
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