 At the age of five months , Pattycake was sharing the Lion House with Lulu and Kongo at the Central Park Zoo . On March 20 , 1973 , an accident occurred that was attributed more to <unk> than to parenting skills . Although no staff were on hand to see it directly , according to visitors , while little Pattycake was reaching out to her father through the bars of her cage , her right arm became stuck somehow when her mother Lulu pulled her away , breaking her right arm . Zoo handlers had to subdue Lulu with a tranquilizer dart to remove Pattycake and treat her injury . While experts considered the incident an accident , the media <unk> the event . <unk> Veronica Nelson , who worked with Patty Cake , recalled that 
