the zoo is known as the Central Park Zoo escape and the Central Park menagerie scare of 1874. It was a hoax perpetrated by James Gordon Bennett Jr. in his newspaper, the New York Herald. J.I.C. Clarke was the primary writer of the hoax, under the direction and inspiration of the Heralds managing editor, T.B. Connery, who often walked through the zoo, and had witnessed the near-escape of a leopard. The Heralds cover story of November 9, 1874, claimed that there had been a mass escape of animals from the Central Park Zoo and that several people had been killed by the free-roaming beasts. A rhinoceros was said to be the first escapee, goring his keeper to death and setting into motion the escape of other animals, including a polar bear, a panther, a Numidian lion, several hyenas, and a Bengal tiger. At the end of the lengthy article, which was divided across several pages of the newspaper, the following notice was the only indication that the story horrifying readers across the city was a hoax: "... of course, the entire story given above is a pure fabrication. Not one word of it is true." That was not enough to assuage critics, however, who accused Bennett of inciting panic when the extent of the hoax became widely known. The authors later claimed their intent was merely to draw attention to inadequate safety precautions at the zoo, and claimed to be surprised at the extent of the reaction to their story. Notable animals In the early 20th century, Bill Snyder was hired at the zoo; he purchased Hattie, an Asian elephant, in 1920. Hattie died in 1922. Pattycake, a female western lowland gorilla, was born at the zoo in 1972 and was thus the first gorilla successfully born in captivity in New York. Her handlers assumed she was a male and originally named her "Sonny Jim". She moved to the Bronx Zoo in 1982, where she remained until her death in 2013. Gus, a male polar bear, lived at the zoo from 1988 to 2013, when he had to be euthanized after being diagnosed with an inoperable tumor. References Notes Citations Sources Further reading (original hoax story) External links Scheier, Joan. "Introduction to The Central Park Zoo". Central Park Zoo. Central Park Zoo on zooinstitutes.com Zoo Environmental organizations based in New York City Robert Moses projects Wildlife Conservation Society Zoos in