The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 465 - Zoo Man Cy DeVry

Episode Date: January 26, 2021

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine Zoo Keeper Cyrus DeVrySourcesTour DatesRedBubble Merch

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. You're listening to the dollop on the All Things Comedy Network. This is a

by Spectacle American History podcast or each week. I, Dave Anthony, read a story from American history to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Got anything else to say? That's it. That's all I got. Feel good about it though. That's I mean it's the intro. I like it when we do it right just like that. So you know when there's not a lot of... Are you looking at your phone? Yeah. Are you looking at your phone? Plug coming up. Yeah. Yeah. Is that a big deal? You're barely paying attention right now. Dude, of course I've seen it. We're doing a podcast. There's literally one other

person here that you should be slightly focused on. That's what you went with. You could have thrown out some legit numbers, but instead... Okay. It's just me here right now. You should pretend like you care. Listen Dan, I love you. You know I love you. I'm all about you. I'm paying so much attention to you. So please relax. God. Gareth. Dan. My name is... One fucking second Dan. My name is Dave. Yeah. All right buddy. Okay, got it. Okay. And action. Who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Oh my god. Your fan. Oh man. The dollop will be right back. And called it, quote, his jam-pack. Jam-pack? I'm the fucking hippo guy. Dave, okay. My name's Gary.

My name's Gary. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to Tiggly podcast. Okay. This is like an... And a five-part coefficient. My room's a place. Now hit him with a puppy. You both present sick arguments. No sleep down hippo. That's like the hippo. Action part. Hi, Gary. No. Nicely done, my friend. No. No. No. Ronda. Ronda in the park. That's it. And I love you. Do you? Yes. You're what I love. I don't love sport. I love Dave. That's not enough. I need more. Okay. You're... You complete me. You are it to me. I don't know if I knew what living my own existence was until I met you and it felt like a key going in a slot and you turned it with ease and you are magic. The wind beneath my wings. The everything I... That's it!

July 8th, 1858. You unlocked it. I'm going to run through this wall. Oh! Cyrus Bernard DeVry was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Okay. To German immigrants Theodore DeVry and Susan Louise Gustrof. Sure. Gustrof. She got the more... She got the more German name out of the couple. Yep. All I can learn about his dad Theodore was he once testified in court against a guy who sold liquor to a minor and that on May 2nd, 1872, the local Harrisburg paper wrote that he had letters waiting for him at the post office. Oh, that's exciting. I'm glad that got included because otherwise I wouldn't know... It used to be so... Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my mother, because I do like that web thing with her and she... The stuff that used to make the paper

where my mother... Yeah. It is... I made the paper for getting christened in England. Made the... Made the front page of the paper. Yeah. My uncle made the paper because his feet are so big. How big are they? They're big, but they're not... You belong in a paper big. Wow. They're like 16. It's a small place. You could make the paper for that. Imagine opening a paper and being like, whoa, this guy has trouble finding shoes. This is amazing green. Well, the letters in this case may have been waiting at the post office for a while because I think the family had moved by then to Nebraska. Okay. So Cyrus Griffin Howard County, Nebraska, he loved animals. He started working as a

bullwacker at 12. Oh, yeah, for sure. Gotta have those. Important to... Yeah. Otherwise, the bulls walk around kind of angry all day. So someone's got to get in there and give the old bull a whack and... Yeah. If you don't... Also, you don't want unwacked bulls just... roaming around. The energy is too much. Did you milk the cows and whack the bulls? I sure did, mom. All the cows are milked and all the bulls are whacked off. A bullwacker is basically like a wagon driver. So on March 5th, 1876, Cyrus was driving a Yoke of cattle across a claim owned by John Cromay near St. Paul. Apparently, the DeVry cattle being taken across Cromay's claim had been an issue for a while

and they had been feuding about it. So Cromay came out of his house with a shotgun and shot Cyrus. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. And he died. That's the end of this week's dollop. Great. Great. Okay. I hope everybody had fun. Can we get a follow-up on about the letters? Were they picked up? Quote, about a hundred shot penetrated the boy's bowels. Oh, God. So he just buckshot at his bowels? So then he really did the thing where he would like drink a cup of water like a cartoon and it would come out like 80 different holes. That was him. The local male agent found Cyrus by Cromay's house, I think, the next morning.

Quote, was he like the letters? Oh my God, the letters. The males sent their best agent, but not even I know how to deliver mail to this. You know, there's a lot of slots to put him in. Yeah. So Cyrus, Cyrus told the male agent, quote, not to take him in that house as the man lived there who shot him. Okay. So he's like, look, I'm laying by this house almost dead, but don't take me in there. That's the guy who did it. Wow. Wouldn't the first thing you'd be saying like, come on, you got to help me instead of like, oh, you don't want to deliver those letters there, Mr. Whoa, boy. So you can get Cromay gets arrested. He gets four years.

The Columbus Republican reported, quote, the doctors reported DeVry, DeVry would not live. But in April, he was reported, he was expected to live. So he came around. He had, I believe, as I read later, he always had a lot of buckshot left over in him. Yeah. Okay. I, yeah, they couldn't get a hundred out of you. Like, no, it's not at that time. It's not worth your time at that point. Because back then you're just, you're just feeling around with your hands. Yeah, right. Yeah. Right. I mean, honestly, yes, you're, you're, imagine you're going off of it going like, I think you're warmer. I can't do this. So in 1868, Oliver Green of Chicago went to New York, where his brother was the

comptroller for Central Park. And there he saw and admired the swans. And he asked, he requested swans be donated to Lincoln Park in Chicago. Okay. And of course, it was his brother was the comptroller. So soon, New York sent four swans and they were placed in the south pond of the park. This was the beginning of what would eventually become the Lincoln Park zoo. Oh, wow. Okay. Great. Great. Now, zoos were just starting to become a thing in the US around this time. They mostly started like Chicago, just some animals in city parks. They were called a menagerie. You're going to be okay. For 20 years, the zoo was small and not at all organized. Okay. That's what I want. More animals. That's called nature. More animals came and by 1873,

there were two bison, one bear, three wolves, two prairie dogs, five deer, peacocks and other birds. In 1874, the park bought its first animal instead of them being donated. They bought a bear cub for $10. Bear Cups. Get your bear cub. Bear Cups. Got a bear cub. Black bear, grizzly bear. All kind of bear you need. Bear Cups. $10 a cub. Now, because it was still part of the park, the people in charge of the park were also in charge of the zoo, even though they didn't have animal experience before they took the job, right? So one of the very first superintendents of Lincoln Park was a guy named Herman DeVry, who is Cyrus's uncle. And Herman died in 1888, and Cyrus went to Chicago for the funeral. And now Chicago is a huge city. He's never seen,

it's 500,000 people. He's never seen like that. He's just like, wow, this is crazy. I want to live here. And I assume through his connections, he got a job working as a bricklayer in the park. Okay. At this point, the zoo was just some thrown together animal cages and a few animals. So I, and I forgot in the previous list, I forgot there were, there's four guinea pigs and two squirrels. And having listened to the dollop. And they're kind of just roaming around the same. No, now they're, now they're in, they're in the swans, I think, are just in the pond or the lagoon. But the bear, they're clearly putting in a cage. They're putting them in cages. Okay. What are you going to say about the dollop? Listening to the dollop?

Well, there's two squirrels in this zoo. Like how hard was it to see a squirrel in Chicago? Yeah, I think that's, it's, I mean, it's essentially to outside squirrels that looks like the other two just got arrested. Yeah. Because they're just like, we're in a tree. That's 10. He was here yesterday. Cyrus, as I said before, are superan animals. And he notices that no one's actually in charge of the zoo. Or as it's called now a menagerie, he pitched himself to the city commissioners as the man for the job. And he had zero experience with exotic animals. But he's like, look, I really handled some bulls and cows. I jerked a lot of bulls off when I was a kid. And so they, they hire him because back then handling animals was considered a macho job.

So even a zoo guy, they're looking for a macho tough guy to handle the animals. Right. Because in their head, it's not the brain that's going to matter when it comes to it. It's like, how strong can the man throw a bear into a cage? That's correct. That's our barometer. So zoos at this point are just a display of imperialism. They're, they were proof of exploring and conquering the regions as well as mastering nature. And of course, an example of American exceptionalism. So theater Roosevelt is a rising politician. We should kill them all. Men who gave off civilized manliness and primitive masculinity. They're the new big thing. Right. Okay. And Roosevelt, of course, would shoot tons of animals on hunts while preaching,

you know, save the environment. So that year, the year that he went on his hunt, Cyrus began working at the zoo and they got, they got their first elephant. Okay. Wow. The year Cyrus got hired. This is really, this is really growing now. Yeah. The elephants were the animal to get. If you were a zoo, quote, most early American zoos considered the day that their first elephant arrived as the day they became real zoo. It's the zoo bar mitzvah. That's right. It's the past. You put it up on a chair and you carried around and everyone dances and sings. That's a wedding. That's a Jewish wedding that you're picturing. That doesn't happen at the bar mitzvah. That the bar mitzvah. They shoot the kid in the back of the

head. No, no, that's the mob up on the stage and everyone eats the candy that comes out. No, I don't even know what that. I don't think that's a thing. What you just said. No, that's not, that's not a thing. Anyone's done. No, no, wait. No, I'm thinking of the thing you hit with a stick. That's a pinata. And they, yeah, that's, I'm thinking of a pinata. Yeah. You're thinking of like a quits and year or something like that. This, this is again vastly different. I shouldn't have mentioned it. I shouldn't have mentioned it, but it's just kick it. I don't have party knowledge. Kick it with a Jew every now and then, Dave. Hashtag kick it with a Jew. It seems anti-Semitic. Excuse me. I went to 50 bar mitzvahs. I'm Jewish, baby.

That quote was by historian Margaret Hansen that a lot of this is based on. So the zoo, as I said, had been called a menagerie, but from the elephant arrival forward, more and more papers started calling it a zoo. Right. Vernon Kisling Jr. said, quote, in America, the word menagerie assumed a negative connotation in common usage, implying improperly kept caged animals. So a zoo is more science based and it's paid for by taxes. Whereas eventually zoo will come to have the same connotation. That's right. Si moved up the ranks very fast at the zoo. And in 1893, he was the head zookeeper. Once he was in charge, the zoo really took off. He personally helped design and build hundreds of new cages and habitats. He built the lion house and the Avery house,

which were huge advances in the way zoo animals were kept or imprisoned, whatever the word you want. One of the first newspaper articles to mention his name was about Si and a lion. Quote, a reporter for the Tribune found the headkeeper, Si DeVry, in the male lion's cage, seated upon the back of the lion, fondling and caressing him as one would a favorite dog. Sorry. Wait, what? They're just, that fondling and caressing just doesn't, I mean, it just, it's different. It means a little, it's become a little creepier now than it did then. Otherwise, this dude's just laying down sort of Joe Biden in the back of the lion's head. Yeah, yeah, I would say that's what he's doing. Yeah. And the lion loves it.

Everyone's having a good time. And then I watched the land, the lion and the men slowly have sex. I was screaming to stop, but they would not. It just kept going. This reporter's going to the zoo again tomorrow. But what got the attention wasn't taking care of the animals. It was being a tough guy with them. The Algonquia printed a story under the headline, Battle of the Elks. So there's, there's six or seven, wait, one of them, seven Elks in this enclosure. And the two male Elks are clearly fighting for control of the herd. So they clearly didn't realize, should we put two guys in here and know they, they did. And so they're, they're fighting and they're really going at it.

And they're really going at it. They somehow accidentally kill a doe while they're fighting. So then the two bucks are staring each other down and and Psy goes in with an iron bar. And then they both see him and start charging wildly. So he backs out and he calls for backup. Okay. By the way, love the, the ability to abort. If more people could just abort their first plan on this podcast, it would probably work out a lot better. Like normally you would expect him to be like, all right, I'm going to fight him with this bar. What's the plan, Psy? I'm just going to walk in there with this steel beam, this bar. I'm going to hold this bar. And then what? Then hopefully they'll recognize me as the dominant robot elk. Here we go. I sh if I'm not back in 20 minutes,

get help. You know what? Actually, I'm not even going to go in much further. They seem really opposed. They were pissed. Did you see how pissed they were? They knew right away. They didn't even buy the steel beam gag. Yeah, they right away were right right away. We're like, we will kill you. Okay, so I'm thinking I do once without the the bar. Just go in there myself. Yeah, just go in there myself. Yeah, just go in there myself and just be me. And maybe I do it. Maybe I do it naked to sort of show them that I hold on. I am not afraid of anything. I don't need anything. I'll just go in there naked without the bar. And then I'll definitely hit a weird man to elk. We definitely hit a weird spot. Like we were going fine. And then we hit definitely a weird sort of place. I'm

going to this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to take all my clothes off. And I'm going to go in there but first, and I'm going to spread it. And we're going to see what happens. No, actually, there's a ambulance coming for you right now. It has a crazy hat on top. And the reason has a crazy hat on while you'll find out. Well, I'm not wearing anything. So I'm not going to wear a crazy hat. Hey, that much. I don't want to look cuckoo. Just going to walk but cheeks spread backwards into the elk cage and talk to Amanda Elk. I think that'll okay right over here. There's two gentlemen here. How are you guys doing? Stu, is that your name? Nice to meet you. You guys seem nice. All right, just going to go with these guys for a little while. While I'm gone,

make sure everything happens. Someone's going to need to get naked and go but cheeks spread backwards into the elk cage to talk to them. Okay. All right, I'm going to go in the car with these guys. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Bye bye. So the elk start trying to hit the men through the fence. Quote, the smaller buck was finally lassoed from the fence and tied to a post. So so side gets on up on top of the fence and lasso is one. Okay, ties to the post and then they pull it over and sigh cuts off his antlers. God damn it. Then they lassoed the other one. Quote, keeper DeVry, who attempted to fasten a rope to throw the animal was struck by a blow that cut and bruised his hand so badly it was feared the bones were broken. Cut off that

elk's antlers. So now the bucks are no longer fighting. I think the other way they would have done it is they would have to kill one of them. So well, I mean, it just but I will bite my through my tongue for the enclosure factor because yeah, obviously like this elk in another circumstance, you wouldn't need to cut their antlers. But anyway, okay, that's right. So but he comes across as a tough guy in the story, right? Oh, yeah. And that's that's the first story we hear about him. So he's got a bat. Yeah. So he takes control of the situation ruins his hand. So sigh implemented scientific study at the zoo. He told the tribune, quote, we make it a rule to dissect every animal that dies here. So they're not wasting ever using him as meat or whatever. No,

but it's still like, you know, it's one of those proclamations where you're like, we don't need to hear that necessarily. Don't you worry, every one of them that's dead gets cut open completely and every parts weighed and put on a scale. Sometimes we fidget around with their bits. Yeah, put them in a lot are dying. So there's a lot of science going on. We're mixing up parts in there like you wouldn't believe. It's like a cupid factory. We've got somebody hearts in the wrong place. So I also gave lectures on wild animals. He and again, this guy, no education. He just he just started hanging around animals. He handled the crime beat. Also, the Quincy Journal reported he quote, the Quincy Journal reported, quote, Gamekeeper

side to right procured the arrest of a fellow yesterday who had caught a mess of goldfish from one of the lagoons. Man, my buddy used to be a manager at a building that had koi ponds. Oh, God, like a third story apartment. And he would just look at his window and says, I have to shout at people to stop stealing the koi. Stop it. That's amazing. In 18 in 1895, Si made national headlines when major a lion at the zoo had a badly ulcerated tooth causing him not to eat meat for two weeks. I'm vegan. Si decided to take the tooth out. Okay. So I guess they made an announcement because 2000 people came to watch him remove the tooth from the line is going to die this Saturday. This Saturday, Si will die.

Quote at about two o'clock, the keepers went into the cage followed by the admiring eyes of the great crowd among them several hundred women. That's right. We're capable of watching things take place, too. So Si moved in on major as the lion growled. He got a rope around him, and then he handed the rope to the assistance outside the cage who pulled on it. So now they have the another put they pulled the key the lion over to the side and then Si put more ropes around major until they could pull his legs through the cage and hold on to him. Then he put a rope around each, you know, part of his upper and lower jaw and they opened the jaw with more ropes. And by the way, the lion not thinking this is okay for some reason. The lion really puzzled

by this whole move. And then the vet came in with his instruments and as soon as the vet came in, this one's called Camp Town Lady. Here we go from the top. The vet that removes the tooth came out in three pieces. It was super rotted. Then the vet held up the tooth for the crowd to see and everyone cheered again. Can you believe we got outside to watch this girls? It was worth it. And then everybody left except Si and they released the lion and then Si and the lion played together for a bit in the crowd watched. What? The lion was like, yeah, he ain't so bad. That's crazy. Yeah. Si derived willingness to enter cages and interact with frightening zoo animals made the zoo into a violent and exciting place for people. Yes. I mean imagine if you

could go to a zoo and you knew a guy was going to go in there and have some sort of issue with the lion. There's no TV. People are making the paper because they didn't pick up their mail. And you're talking about a fucking dude going out there ripping molars out of lions and then tussling. Yeah. Yes. Yes. So the animals had to be moved every spring and fall to their summer and winter quarters, right? So a lot of animals not into that and they refused to get into the mobile cage for the transfer. So Si would have to go into the animal enclosure to secure the animal with a rope so the others could pull the animal into the mobile cage. So these encounters were often violent and drew very large crowds. Each time he was successful moving an animal,

the crowd would applaud and cheer. Yay. That one's going to its winter home. One transfer also involved major, the lion, the Chicago Tribune, quote, the lion wild with rage bounded about the cage and keeper DeVry being in his path was knocked from one end to the other. He suffered another knockout before getting another rope around major's neck. So he's literally just battling these animals getting knocked out. He's yeah, he's just getting. Yeah. I mean, he I think he's just constantly bloody and and cut and bruised. What are you kids doing today? We've got to go down to the zoo and see if that fella get killed again. All right. Si Si is a constant source of tough guy, masculinity, dominating wild animals, but also

showing civilized restraint at the same time. He always has a very tenuous relationship with the park board. In 1985, the park board fires. In what year? 1895. 1895. Sorry. Two zoo visitors had made complaints of animal cruelty. One complained after they saw Si whipping a leopard. Si dismissed the woman as irrational, saying her complaints were exaggerated, quote, a woman crank wrote me a letter. I wish I had kept that missive. It was four pages long, and it called me a cruel, hard-hearted wretch just because I swatted a jaguar over the nose to save my own life. Yeah, ma'am, you don't understand, leopards get whipped into the natural world every day. They used to it. They used to it. It's how they communicate. Yeah, I mean, yes, of course.

I'm, yes. It's not to say that the person does not handling the animals well or like has a way with them. But yeah, I mean, like, you could not, you could not make the argument that, yeah, that an animal's life is ever better at enclosure, you know? Yeah. So he had, he basically was making the point that he's caring for the animals, but he's doing it as a man, and women don't understand these things. Well, and Dave, that is a point we can all get behind. That is that that I get. You look. How would a woman understand an animal? I understand leopards better than women. Two zoo visitors had made complaint. Oh, sorry.

So the Chicago Tribune loves sigh at this point, and reporters wrote glowing stories of him. And in late 1895, he was back on the job and the crowds came back as well. The Chicago Tribune, quote, the crowd of people were absolutely transported with admiration for keeper DeVry, who is the most modest man imaginable and gave a round of applause at the conclusion of each of his contests. If any park commissioner had come into that crowd and talked about removing DeVry from office, he would have, he would, from office, he would infallibly have been ducked into the nearest pond. Okay, so that's nice. So did he get, did he get like, was he not fired, but was he like reprimanded for? He was, he was fired. And then they brought him back. There was so much demand.

Oh, okay. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, they dismissed him. Oh, wow. But people fucking love this guy already. So he also helped create a new door system that allowed zookeepers to open an indoor cage as they let the animals into the outdoor area. Okay. This system is still used today in zoos. The way that you mean the way that they are able to get in and out without having to like directly be alone with an animal. Yeah. Okay. He was also on the cutting edge of other practices, like deterring rats from animal enclosures. Wow. Which I guess, I guess before. No, no, no. Yeah. Matt, who's in there with the cheetah? Oh, those are 50, 60 rats. This is a rat cheetah exhibition. Now, just imagine these animals without the rats, everybody. I think that,

yeah, up until then, it sounds like there was no pest control going on. Right. So you're just and so he so the rats, he's gonna be awesome. This is cool. It's good to meet you. This is awesome. I never met an elephant. Yeah, like they're just putting all the exotic species in here. You know, we got lions, elephants, fucking rats. We're all just kind of these interesting international animals that people haven't seen. And I love it when the people come here. They come see all the wild. They got we got a bear. We got a bunch of guinea pigs. There's 80 rats. We're here. You know, we're just kicking it all exotic weird animals. You know, people love lions. People love rats, too. They love us. We love each other. Yeah, it's great. Hashtag zoo life.

But he basically up, he did upgrade the quality of zoos. Like he was right. He was on the cutting edge of that. He often carried a whip to control the animals. Now his next big battle made news all over the world. The headline was man and bear fight duel. But what about that man who has letters at the post office? No, no, no, we've got a better one. It's a better story. In September 1897, he either poked or rattled the cage of a 500 pound grizzly to get him up for some spectators. Okay. The bear was upset and it between the bars at Nip Cyrus' foot. Now, Sy's not having any of that. And he goes into the bear pit closing the gate behind him as the Tribune wrote with, quote, no weapons but his fists. What is but then but then then the Tribune

explains how Sy used a quote slight whip. So the Tribune's like he only had his fists. He's got and a whip junior, we call it baby whip. He's got a baby whip. But this time the whip did not subdue the bear and it only made the bear matter. I guess someone who has no degrees in science or nature, I could have told you whipping the bear will aggravate the bear. Yeah. A crowd gathered around the pit to watch man fight. He's finally gonna die. A zoo assistant saw what was happening and threw a rake down to Sy, but Sy couldn't get here. Get those leaves in the corner. Hurry, Sy, the whole aesthetic is thrown off. So the bear rushed Sy a few times and finally one time he caught hold of Sy's legs and then he bit Sy in the leg.

Sy and the bear rolled over and over and over. Is this this is not a cartoon? This is actually this is this is real. And Sy somehow managed to throw the 500 pound bear off of him at some point, but the bear still holds on to his leg and then the bear climbs and gets on top of him and so they're facing each other. So Sy tries to choke the bear as the bear tries to bite him. And then Sy gets free and stands up and the bear grabs his shoulders and bites the back of Sy's arm. Sy then spins around and hits the bear with quote a right hand punch that struck the animal in the back of the ear and set it rolling on the ground. Before the dazed brute could recover, the man was in safety behind the iron gate. Jesus. So he turns around and he just fucking

right hooks the bear and then he makes for the fence and he gets out of the cage and then he immediately faints. Yeah, I mean, yeah, he just revenanted. So there's no actual reason for there was no reason for him to enter the enclosure. He just wanted to assert his control over the bear that had nipped him and and be a tough guy, right? So but he's badly wounded. Like he's got big chunk of his leg is fucked up and he has to heal. Not many people elect for a bear attack. Not me. I wouldn't. I don't fight bears. I fight guinea pigs. Get in there. Like I'll fuck up. Yeah, guinea pigs. Even then, I mean, imagine that way. Like I got me. Oh man, the guinea pig's going to take Sy out. So he has to heal in bed for months. Still, the Tribune writes that Sy had

won the fight. Wow. I guess because he's alive. Like, yeah, you won because you were alive, but you let you ran away from the fight. That's not a winner. The reason I had a tenuous relationship with the Park Ward with the the reason I had a tenuous relationship with the Park Board was because early American zoo directors emphasized science, order and education to show they were different from circuses and menageries. Right. But people coming, coming to the zoo, they, they want action and they're often bored and looking at animals just hanging out. So size battles with bears and lions or more something one would see in a circus or a menagerie. So that was the the board's issues that there's not a lot of information attached to whatever he's

doing. Right. And just that he's over the top and but yeah, it's like it's a show. He's a crowd favorite. He's selling tickets, right? Right. Yeah. And yet the board doesn't like it. So in July on July 23rd, 1899, tragedy struck the zoo. The Philadelphia Inquirer headline told the story quote, Ostrich, which lost its mate, commits suicide in Lagoon. Oh my god. What? An ostrich drowned itself? Well, the bird escaped. I thought it was sand. The bird escaped from his cage and it was being chased around the park by sci and two assistants trying to catch it. At some point it ran up a bridge and the bridge was very high and it got to the top of the bridge and jumped off the bridge 75 feet down into the lagoon. Oh god. So it was like, I mean, yes,

it was trying to get away. Some people said it was because they were chasing the bird, but Psy disagreed completely. No, if you ask first, the bridge was called a suicide bridge because so many people had jumped to their death from it and the ostrich knew that the ostrich knew that the ostrich was very aware of that name. Second, the bird has just suffered a terrible loss. Psy quote, it was clearly an attempt at suicide and there was nothing of must or chance about it. You see, this poor bird's husband died some four months ago while the two were in transit to our zoo. I've always noticed that the bird seems suffering from melancholia or some kindred ailment of a purely mental origin. Now it's strange act in leaping from the suicide bridge

has certainly confirmed my worst suspicions. That is on. He left a note. There's a note. Proof. This is a note from the ostrich. Dear cruel world, after losing my mate, I was unaware what I could do. So I did what I felt necessary. I am sorry for those I have hurt with my decision, but I went to suicide bridge for a reason. You see, I used to feel ostrich. And since the loss of my mate, I feel us poor. Goodbye. PS head and sand no longer works. Yeah. PS can breathe through sand. Figured out hard way. He did. Psy did mention that he was like I it is amazing that the bird knew that was a suicide bridge. Oh, we're all we all marvel at the genius of the foul. Don't get

us wrong. So I had some interesting methods when the lions were upset because their cubs have been taken away. He handled it. I'm going to go stab one of them. See what that they'll get in there. I spoke up with a knife for a little bit. See if that works. So the thing about babies and zoos is the more babies you had, it looked like your zoo was very successful. But then they would sell the animals away because they couldn't have, you know, 50 lines or whatever. So right, they sold a bunch of lions one day and the lions are upset that their cubs are gone. Yes. And so I handled it in a way probably a lot of zoos wouldn't the Buffalo Morning Express quote, animal keeper side dry fired a heavy shotgun a few times into the lion's cages in order to quiet

them. After the last shot was fired and the smoke cleared away. There was the stillness of a tomb. Suddenly the older lion made a mad plunge at a keeper who stood near the cage and the howling began again. Wait, I don't know what just happened. The lions are roaring and and fucking howling. So he fires his gun. So he brings a shotgun. She guys, you guys get to keep yelling and then they're like, yeah, we're animals. Of course, we're going to keep yelling. Yeah. And then they attacked another keeper. Okay, good plan. So at this point, he was being invited all over the country to lecture about zoology, which he has no degree in. You're going to want to flick an elephant in the nuts, really get it aggravated and then get on its back. It's how nature works.

If a bear bites your calf, you got to punch that fucker in the face. I'll never forget the time I ate a grizzly bear cub in front of the mother just to show her who was dominant. So sighted things his way and he was now powerful and popular, which again didn't sit well with the city's politicians. And in 1900, he made some enemies when he fired a connected employee who refused to work. Okay. How dare you. So these politicians then falsely reported the zoo was $177,000 in debt and he was fired. That's like a million dollars today. Like that's a lot of fucking money. So yeah, so they figured out a way to get rid of them and the zoo falls apart. Four of the five camels die. Animal rides. Animals are bringing in tons of money. So that was bad.

And the public is demanding that they rehire Psy. And so the politicians give in, it turns out, it also turned out that when they looked into it, the zoo's not in debt. So it was just all a setup. So they, they have to reinstate him in 1901. Lord, they're just, they're like making him the rocky of zoo. So after, soon after returning, he was bitten by a lion on the hand pretty badly. And he lost, he lost part of it. How many, how many hands does he have? More than two? He's got six. I feel like he has six arms. He lost part of his index finger and then the rest of the hand is not healing. So it goes to a doctor and the doctor says, look, if it does, this doesn't start healing soon. We're going to have to cut your hand off. Wait, you know, the doctor at any

point just like put a rope around his neck and then like drag him to the side of the room where a bunch of guys put his legs out the window and then hog tied him while they tried to figure out what was wrong with his hand. So Psy, Psy's like, well, if I don't have a hand, I'm not going to be able to do my job. So Psy goes home that day and shoots himself in the head. What? What? I looked for what happened, but I couldn't find a story. I have no idea how he survived or how he wasn't fucked up. Like it must have been a problem with a gun or something or, but he's, he's okay. I'll tell you what doesn't hurt anymore is the hand. Everybody reports that he, you know, all the, all the papers reported he tried to commit suicide. His fiance then leaves him because that's, you know, that's

the kind of thing you do back then. If no one wants to be with a guy, you know, that was back when if you commit suicide, everyone's like, okay, everybody get away from this guy. We've got a broken soul that will only take you down with him. Run away, run away fast, do not console, do not do anything. This one's broken. So she leaves him somehow the hand heals and he goes back to work. And just who shoots themselves in the head and their hand gets on December 29 1901, two wolves rust through the front door of the park commissioners headquarters during a board meeting. We want to be enclosed. Everybody freaks out and runs for the back door, which is what you do when wolves come into your building. In the back, there's just embers from

a cigarette burning. I mean, hello wolves. Basically, the evening times quote, it was just a little joke that sigh to fry played on the boys. That was a prank. He wolf pranked him. Oh, you idiots. These are my wolves. The wolves were new and he spent the last few weeks training them until they were quote, tame as pet dogs. But the board wasn't pleased. I mean that the wolves were really bounding in like a couple of dogs would do into a house. But you know, they're wolves. They're I don't know if you've ever seen a wolf dog, but it's they're terrifying. They're wolves. They're wolves. It's like you're it's like a rabid dog. Yeah. One of the reasons he may have done this was because sigh was a huge drinker. He okay, this is this is helping and that may have that may

have been because he suffered from bouts of what was then called melancholy or depression. Mm hmm. Right. Yeah. His drinking was pretty much and what do you do for melancholy taste? Well, you hide it from everyone. That's right. And his drinking was pretty much an open secret in Chicago by now. And also that explains why he said what he did about the swans and and it explains getting into it like the fire shooting your gun. And I mean, this this adds some context. Yeah, this is helpful. Yeah. So he's he's he's super he's super depressed. This is a zoo bender. It's a zoo. Yeah, he's super depressed in a time when there there is no mental health clinic or or mental health professional you can go to. You know, you're this is a lot of people who

did stuff like this who are amazing people probably had a little something going on, you know. And right. And and you have no option other than to self medicate. Yes. And yeah, you just yeah, I mean, there it is it is crazy. As bad as we attend to mental health and like addiction today, at least we acknowledge that there is like a mental connection. Yeah. Although I'd say you know, in other countries, I think they attend to mental I'd say in America, we're still punching bears. We're we're terrible. But at least like we can at at least now we acknowledge the problem. We don't do anything to solve it or help in any way. But at least we're at the point where we're like, yes, that is out of your control. And another thing we're not

going to help you with. Thank you. Now, it's a few a few years into his career. So I now has a signature look that he's pretty much staying with. It's one hand down, big hole in the head, bottle of bourbon in the pocket. Missing a finger. Miss the thingy. Yeah, the pointer. He has a tiger tooth hanging from a pocket watch chain. He always wears the exact same hat. He dresses in suits and has a very bushy mustache. And he almost always has a cigar hanging from his mouth. Great. Great. So he kind of resembles the monopoly guy on Safari. That's right. So he's a celebrity now. And with that comes meeting other celebrities.

In 1902, heavyweight champion Robert Fitzsimmons wanted to buy a lion to wrestle as part of his training. Yep. And his trainer was like, that's perfect. Yep. Do that and eat nothing but eggs. This is 1902. Psy set up a meeting with Fitzsimmons. But unfortunately, Psy didn't show up to it because he was, quote, cornered by three Elks and knocked insensible. Come on. What? It is the best. So unfortunately, he's insensible from Elk Antler. It's the best. They really banged him around. It's the best reason for not going to a meeting I've ever heard. He's been banged insensible. By what? He's Elk. He was Elk three Elk. Okay. I mean, if you want to get, if you want the whole story, he wants to meet you because he would love

to give you this line. Oh, yeah. And by the way, as far as training, you're not going to get a better trainer than a wild lion. Yeah, that's what I thought. But it's a great idea. But the problem is Psy was going to head over here, but then three Elk cornered him and tried to take his life. Oh, and they just bashed him around. And the last time I saw him about 20 minutes ago, he was asking me to buy stock and marbles, which means that he's just not with us right now. Well, but he was, he was really just, I, they were, it was like, he was a tennis ball and they were just, he was literally bouncing off of their, their antlers. I'm thinking I should buy three Elk instead of this lion. It's not a bad idea. I would start with two Elk to train with. And then once

you get better, get a third. But talk to Psy about that. He's the one who really understands how the animals work. But he's insensible. He just is in the, he's in the infirmary right now, just because he's been knocked insane. Well, I mean, his brain was really just, they really, they, they attacked the head. I'll just put it that way. They knew the head was where the stuff was and they relentlessly attacked it. Okay. They were stomping on him. They were bashing, the whole thing went on for about two hours and 40 minutes. He was in there and they were just, it was, I mean, he was, he looked pulpy at the end. But he could probably be in a week or so once his head comes back. But as for right now, he is not himself because Elks have almost murdered

him. Okay. All right. Well, yeah. And that was about 20 minutes ago. I guess I'll just take off. Well, this is the guy you should trust on how to handle animals and what you should be buying. No doubt. This is the guy. Listen to him. Opera star Emma Ames came to the zoo and Silette her, she brought champagne with her and Silette her. What kind of star is she? She's an opera star. Opera star. Okay. Silette her give champagne to the elephant who was named the duchess. Oh, okay. So that's, I feel like we're jumping the shark a little now. So I told that you're being quote, the duchess didn't wait on ceremony. She used to be a circus elephant and knows a good thing at first sight. She grabbed the bottle, emptied it, and then reached for more. So the

Yep. Good. What a brag. Oh, because of early trauma, this elephant knows to drink alcohol. But don't, but don't, as I recall, don't elephants like to get fucked up? I think I've, I mean, I don't, a lot of animals like to get, I mean, there's so many things where like, you know, animals find different like fermented fruits or, yeah, just like leaves or things like that that'll trip them out or vines or whatever. But I don't think rarely it takes a real watering down of their natural instincts to get them to be like champagne. I'd love a bottle. Why? Yes. Put it on my truck tray. So Si also made sure everyone knew he was close with Ames, saying they were old friends and she always came to the zoo. So he also sort of cultivates this

celebrity, you know, celebrities like me sort of thing. I mean, right soon. He's a name drop. Soon Teddy Roosevelt is coming by. Like it's like it's a thing. He's a thing. Okay. One day Dutchess threw dirt on a woman named Mary Coles and Si apologized and offered to have her come back for a personal tour and the two were soon love and got married. Okay. That's nice. That's how you know it's the one when the elephant kicks dirt on. That's right. Now not everyone was into zoos. There was definitely a lot of criticism for people who thought zoos were cruel and unethical. In 1902, famous German singer Madame Lily Lehman wrote to the Tribune criticizing the animal enclosures at the Lincoln Park Zoo. She said the foxes and wolves didn't have a place to stay or

lay warm and that the Bronx Zoo had much better accommodations. Si of course responded. And then he said that if he put down straw for the foxes, they would get manged and lose their hair in three months. Quote, I guess Lily knows more about high notes than she does about keeping wild animals. Great. But he also knows very little about. I mean, he knows from experience, but as far as like what to actually do. Yeah. Well, you mean, he's just kind of like, he's like a gut instinct. He's like, my gut tells me they'll get mange. Yes. Lehman was one of many, quote, tenderhearted women who sent misguided letters. Yep. She's wet. She suffers from that empathy. Foolish lady. Another high society woman in

Chicago who disliked zoos said they should release all the animals into the wild and replace them with statues. Well, I mean, I'm not saying that she's got a great play. You know, I'm not saying that I'm not, I mean, I agree with her premise, but yeah, the solution isn't there. She's not solving. She's pointing out the problem, not solving it. Si explained the children would not. We should just replace it with paintings of animals. Or maybe men and women who are in costume who pretend to be them. Yes. Thank you. That is how you'd solve your problem. Thank you so much. Si explained children would not like the statues as much as they liked live animals. And also that if they couldn't,

what a softball for him. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, actually, I'm going to just make a fine point on your idea. And that's that statues are not as cool as live animals. Man. The paper actually put had, there were drawings, but a bunch of drawings of what the statues would look like, like they just totally fucked with her. Yeah. I mean, it is a terrible idea. In 1902, two hyenas got into a quote, fierce fight. So Si goes into the cage and breaks it up with this. What? I can't. I mean, this is this is really crazy. I mean, there's a lot going on, but like two hyenas fighting and then like getting in the cage. You completely lost me at hyenas. I was just like, no, I mean, there's so many animals. I'm like, okay. And then the

hyenas I'm like, what? No, well, a lion is crazy. Like the lion stuff is totally crazy. But and so is the elk stuff. But yeah, like two fighting hyenas is just it's a force. Yeah, you can't. You shouldn't try to penetrate. No. So he goes in and breaks it up with his bare hands. What's so funny? Days later, the same hyenas start fighting again and one gets an injured paw during the fight. So Si goes in breaks it up again, then ropes up the hyena and quote straddled Nero and applied salve to its foot. A huge crowd watched the entire event. Later that year, Si would go into the lion enclosure and break up a fight between two lions. Dave, you're lying. I mean, that is how I don't know. If I break it, can you imagine? I don't know. Like,

wouldn't two lions be like, Hey, let's kill this guy and then pick up. Yeah. I mean, I would. I'm not a lion, though. No, it's true. I've always been very upfront about that. In an ocean paper quote, he was smoking a cigar very quietly and continued to do even as opposed to like, I'm having a puff right now when he goes in to stop the lion fight. Oh, he's smoking it quietly in there. The cigar is just sticking out of his mouth, I think, all the time. Right. And so he goes in. So he is smoking a cigar very quietly and continued to do so even after the first lion roared in him. Then he walloped them over the heads with a whip and still smoking his cigar made a noose, which he definitely passed over the growling head of one

of the beasts. Oh, Jesus Christ. I mean, it's a pretty fucking cool picture. I mean, it is, as long as you're cool with like a lion. Whatever. He didn't kill the lion. He just caught it. I'm aware. It's just it is damaging. But yes, I mean, there it's damaging. The lion lives in a fucking cage. That's what I mean. The lion is already way damaged. Well, that's what I mean. Yeah, like it's all it's all very damaging. But yes, a man smoking a cigar. It's a masculine image, sure. I mean, it's ridiculous. In 1903, he entered the lion cages twice, wants to get a lion to come in out of the wind and wants to repair. Now he's just like looking for stuff. Now he's just like now he wants fights with lions. Now he's looking for lion fight.

You're going inside where it's not cold right now. You're gonna catch a cold. That's it. I'll beat the shit out of you to keep you healthy. Another time to repair a ruptured blood vessel. So there's a bunch of stories in papers of him doing surgery on animals. He removing a tumor from a parrot and abscess and small piece of bone from a monkey. Like it's just I mean, he literally is just also like acting like a doctor. It's crazy. I cannot. Right. It's benign. Now there's also an increasing problem of mashers in the park. Okay. And always good. Yeah. So zoo directors want a very civil environment, right in the zoos, because that's that's what they're going for. So he he decided he would help out with the

mashers his way. Quote, a much more officious way of dealing with mashers is just to administer a good beating. We arrest them only when they are troublesome to handle. Okay. So he's like, you see what I do with the animals, we can also start doing with the humans. We just need a whip and we'll beat them. And that'll be good. And actually they could live in this space over here. Next to the lion cage, we've got the masher exhibit. So he would watch a guy that he suspected of being a masher. And if the guy mashed a woman, right, he pinched or grabbed a woman or whatever, he would wait until the masher did it to another woman just to be sure. Interesting. Quote, I only reach into the crowd, grab them by the collar and let them have two

or three short jabs. I'm getting tired of taking cases to the police and I intend to give them a few hard jolts and kick them out. So if you go to see, if you go to the park to go to this man's menagerie zoo, you will see him fight bears, breakup lion fights, de tumor parrots. And now he's adding to the show that if there are pervy dudes in the crowd, he when he's sure it's them, he goes out and beats them. Yeah, well, it's a zoo. Yeah. Yeah. It's the same. If you go to LA Zoo today, it's the same thing. That's the exact same. Okay. Okay. March 1904. I mean, it's the only, yeah, okay. March 1904, a baby orangutan arrived at the zoo.

It had been born on the voyage. They got a, they captured or they were sold a a, a pregnant orangutan. And okay. The crew named it quote, quote, Mike from his resemblance to the cartoon Irishman. Now, what? Now that I found on the Wichita Daily Eagle. So the apparently there was, I couldn't find what Mike, the Irish cartoon was, but I think we could agree that it was probably pretty tame. She was not racist at all. Stereotypical. Yeah. Yeah. But it seems like the mother's name was the real problematic one. She was named Miss Dooley and Irish papers found out and they demanded Miss Dooley be renamed. Quote, in many American cities, orangutans and other divisions of the monkey family are given

Irish names because of an alleged resemblance to the Irish race. Oh my, oh my lord. The practice is an insult to everyone with Irish blood in his veins. Oh, and they're just like, I miss Dooley works. So Si is Si. Yeah. And Si, Si refuses. All right. And he also said it was true. Monkeys did look like Irish people. All right, Si, the press conference is over. Let's no more questions. That's good. Thank you for adding that addendum though. Really helpful stuff. Yeah. Quote, such names as Elizabeth Tudori and the Duchess of Marlboro would be ridiculous. The outing does not resemble either. She was known as Miss Dooley on the ship. Anyone who does not like the name can call her something else. Jesus Christ. So this for some reason

made the Irish furious. Yeah, I wonder what it was about that. And then they threatened to sue. Now, once one article I read said that they were suing to change the name, but I also think they were just going to sue for damages or whatever. I don't know. Wow. So they, I mean, and it, I mean, yeah, you obviously understand where they're coming from, but the follow up sue does make it a little funnier like to the side that's being the worst. So they give him a three day deadline before they're going to file the suit. The park board was not enjoying. We are done with this. This is over. No more. You have three days to decide what are you going to keep today, Mrs Dooley? She looks

not in like us, not in like us. Okay. For the last time, but you have three days to decide. And then after three days, if that fucking thing's name is still Miss Dooley, we're coming for you. We'll take, we'll sue the pants off you take away your whole entire menagerie, your zoo, everything. So I guess the park board was not thrilled with all of this. And the next day, so we're being sued by Ireland. Just get that out there. So I guess Ireland is suing the zoo. Exactly. Ireland is suing the zoo. Right. They're for racism. So anyway, any other stuff on the docket we should talk about? Sure, that's not that important. The next day, Cy relented and said the guys on the ship had named her,

but everyone at the zoo just called her the rang and the papers. And then that was it. The Irish dropped it like, Oh, okay. That's yeah. All right. Hold on. We need to admit it to confirm with our attorney. It was totally different. Yes. The wrong works. Good day. But the papers and Cy continued to call her Miss Dooley for the rest of her life. Great. Despite his macho men characters, Cy was often photographed holding and feeding baby animals. There are pictures of him feeding a baby peckery. I think I've seen him with like three from a bottle and he's feeding baby monkeys. This helps him show off the variety of animals and that he's a scientific expert. So baby animals are one way to show. I think I said this before that the zoo is doing very well. But the people

still love the animal fights more than anything. That's the fucking jam bread and butter in 1904. The Chicago Tribune praised his daring ways. Quote, Chicago recalls the period a few years ago when DeVry was not animal keeper at the park. In those days, nothing ever happened. The wildest, fiercest creatures in the collection lived in a peanut and popcorn existence tamer than that of the average alley cat. Nothing ever broke out of its cage. But with the return of DeVry, strenuousness became characteristic of the members of the zoo family. Almost any day or night, the menagerie broke loose somewhere and somebody or something came as near as being eaten up or swallowed or squeezed to death as the destructive equipment of the animal suggestion. He's the

kind of animal keeper to have. That is the craziest. That is such a crazy take. The idea that I mean, look, again, you're kind of missing words and splitting hairs a little bit when you're talking about like, what is the best existence for an animal in a cage? Come on. Let's be real. What do they really want in their cage, in their cage? But the idea that, I mean, it's just, the idea that that's a good thing, that that's a good that, you know, that's like, it's, it really is the most American of takes. Yeah, it's just like, yeah, what would you like? A calm, quiet place where the animals are just sitting or one where their lives are in fear and they're on edge. That's exciting. Anyone can die at any time. Anyone's dying. Yeah. I mean,

also they use strenuousness purposefully because that was what theater Roosevelt had used in a big speech and it was like characteristic of him, right? Right, right, of course. So, but as time went by, Si went into the animal cages less and less. In 1913, he wrote quote, when I was younger and more foolish than I am now, I did enter a tiger cage. I didn't stay in there long. And I kept tigers in the air while I was in there. I wouldn't go in such a cage again for a million dollars. I can he levitate tigers? I'm not sure what that means. Yep. No problem there. I mean, it's really hard. I can't lift tigers with my mind like I used to be able to. A Tribune reporter came to the zoo and so was one of these guys who was like, I do a different job and then I write

about it. So he came right and he wanted to know what it was like to be a lion keeper and he said he wanted to go into a lion cage. And Si said, Hey, it's Joe on the job today. I'm going to die. Hey, what? I want to know what it's like to have the skin ripped off my face. I have to make sure you're writing this down as it disables me. It feels really bad and I'm totally freaking out. So I said, quote, didn't I play with one of those bears for 13 years and then one nice day have him chew off the calf of my leg. So then he let the reporter hold a baby leopard and the baby leopard tried to claw off his nose and that was enough for the reporter. Wow. That guy is really getting out there. I want to be in a lion cage. Oh, the baby cut me.

In 1914, the zoo's Python Romeo had not eaten for seven months. So Si saw a picture of this gun. He might just be pretending to die to meet up with Juliet on the other side. That's right. Potential. So Si saw a picture of this gun. What? Of what gun? It was a feeding gun. And Si ordered the gun to feed the Python. Dave, is there a more American term than feeding gun? He and his assistants held Romeo down, quote, well, 50 pounds of meat were shot down the snake's throat. Oh, 50 pounds. That's a lot. That also sounds like our solution to homelessness in this country. We got a feeding gun. Yeah, good. Go around and feed a gun. We're shooting burgers out of an AK

finally. The American dream half cometh. Si was don't look at that yet. I put it up too early. Okay. Okay. So I was an incredibly popular with kids in 1916. He got an offer to manage the Sea Lake Zoo in Los Angeles for twice the pay. Now Chicago freaked out. They demanded the city pay him more money. And so he started negotiating a new salary. And the papers followed it like every single offer or everything that happened. It was in the papers. The Tribune ran at least 15 articles covering negotiations. Okay, one article was titled Children beg Si to remain in most cities. Elephants were the draw. But in Chicago, Si was the draw for the zoo. Right. Around this time, right after he signed the contract, I think it ended up being about

$120,000 a year in our money. In around this time, a fortunate kid from Matune, Illinois, saved $10 and ran away from home and made for Chicago quote to gaze upon Si DeVry. When he arrived at Lincoln Park, he walked around for two days. He did not see Si and finally a cop found him starving. And when Si read about it in the paper, he walked the kid around his zoo quote hand in hand. The Tribune then started a regular feature of kids quotes about Si to fry. Oh, God. Yeah. In 1918, Si had another Python that was not eating time for the gun. But this time he used a celebrity to turn it into a media spectacle. He invited probably the most famous evangelical preacher in the country and also ex baseball star Billy Sunday.

Tons of reporters covered it. A huge crowd gathered as quote Sally gulp down pound after pound of raw meat as Billy Sunday pumped it into her. That's great. This is so dumb. Now that sounds pretty sexual and gross. And it was supposed to be the Tribune compared the snake not eating to suffragists on a hunger strike and the Python and they said the Python was a descendant of the serpent of Eden. So they're purposefully making it. Oh, my God. A sexual thing. What a now. Now you can look at the picture that I just sent you. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That is that is the snake being fed with the gun by Billy Sunday. Dave, this is so weird. I mean, okay, it is there are 10 dudes in hats, you know, uniformed men, all holding a portion of the stretched out Python

on while what looks like a vice crank and the snakes the Python's mouth is just fully opened and then it looks like a vice crank. And then you just slow is you just slowly twist that around and then that just pushes the food deep into the snake stomach. Is that what it is? I think so. It is for the snake a fucking nightmare. And yet and then there's one guy in the back. It looks like he's a bartender. That's the guy. The guy in the back is amazing. He's just so happy. Anyone need another frothy air? Looks like your boys are working up a real thirst from trying to jam 50 pounds of meat straight into a Python stomach. Anyone fancy for a whiskey? Wow. Nature for you. Yeah, that's pure nature. That's how God intended. In 1919, two policemen

were patrolling the zoo when there was a commotion and they ran over and they found Psy with his foot, quote, planted Alexander like on the prone body of a man. The man was Charles Hyde and Psy said he was a masher. Hyde said he wasn't and Hyde charged Psy with a salt and battery. Psy was also charged with disorderly conduct by one of the cops who said Psy tried to punch him. Psy was taking to jail and he stayed there until the trial. One would hope that he would recognize what enclosure existence is life and after this come back with a new sense of what an animal goes through. Now of course the papers describe Psy as the hero comparing him to Tarzan and Alexander the Great. The Tribune said in this article describing

how he attacked this man, the Tribune said Psy was, quote, an exemplar of perfect manhood and printed a picture of him kissing a monkey, a baby monkey. Yes. Yes, of course. More unbiased journalism. More straightforward. Was this the Fox paper? Two days later, Psy was suspended from a zookeeper job. Because of the because beating up a stranger was found upon now? I mean he said it was a masher but the guy said he wasn't. The Tribune ran an article titled, Pets would be best witnesses, said Psy DeVry. He said what pets would be best witnesses? Pets would be best witnesses. Dave, he's not suggesting calling his animals to testify, is he? Quote, if their testimony could be introduced, I would easily be cleared of the charges.

State your species. Put your hand on the Bible there, please, Mr. Muskrat. And how long have you been a lion? His trial was on July 11th. The Tribune wrote that even if convicted, he should not lose his job. There are a ton of witnesses, some saying completely opposite things happen. One woman said she smelled alcohol on Psy's breath. Another said he was for sure sober. Psy says... I like that guy. No, he's 100% sober. I'm 100%. Psy said he only had one pint. Okay, sure. Well, of what, first of all? And then a park zookeeper testified. Quote, I know Psy was sober because he had four monkeys with him and a monkey won't stay near a man who has been drinking. Yep, that's totally true.

It's always been... yep. Hey, he had to be sober. He had four monkeys. Any follow-up questions? I would like to just... as the jury foreman, I would just like to end this trial right now, because even if that man is lying, that is the goddamn ballsy statement that has ever come out of a human in a courtroom. As the judge of the trial, we will obviously be dismissing all charges. The man had four monkeys around him. Has he supposed to be drunk if he has four monkeys on him? Ain't no monkey that stands around a drunk man. Come on. It's true. It's true. And by the way, we don't even need to look it up. It's one of those facts that sounds so goddamn crazy. It's got to be true. That's just common sense. It's just common sense, exactly. And so this court was founded upon.

Now, he had every right to beat that man because he was sober. We know because of the monkeys. Next case. Next. They should have at drunk driving checkpoints. They should have monkeys. Do you mind if we... can you roll the window down a little further so we can see if the monkey will get in the car, sir? We just have to see if it's... you can either touch your nose while you walk in a straight line, or we can get this over with real quick. Yeah, no, man. I don't want the monkeys. I don't want the monkeys. I don't just keep the monkeys away from me. I don't want the monkeys near me, man. Sir, do you not... do you not want the monkeys because you've been drinking? I don't like monkeys. That's all. I'm just not a monkey guy. We have a

right... that gives us probable cause now to put a monkey in your car. No, no, no. You can't put a monkey in my car. I'm sober, man. Well, if you're sober, then you have nothing to worry about. Then it'll hang out. No, I don't want the monkey in here. I just don't like monkeys. What do you want? A breathalyzer? No, I don't want anything. I just want to go home. I'm good. I'm fine. I'm fine. Look, again, I mean, I don't know what to tell you. You're either going to be searching the car or you're going to let the monkey in for a minute. What the fuck, man? All right, just keep me the monkey. All right, here you go. Hold him. All right, you know it. This guy's drunk. This guy's drunk. This guy's shithouse. This guy's... you can't get back in here. Come here, Pepper. Put Pepper

back in the satchel. All right, sir. I think you can see by the work Officer Pepper just put together that you are clearly intoxicated. Fucking monkey. Yeah, you fucking monkey, right? Best day of cop on the beat. The jury reached a decision under five minutes, not guilty. We find this whole case totally crazy. So even though so many people wanted Psy to remain, the Park Board fired him on July 24th, 1919. Of course, Chicago, Chicagoans protested. Over 50,000 signed a petition. But it just wasn't meant to be. They weren't going to hire him back. I think, you know, this was their way to finally sever ties with this guy they thought was crazy and drunk and whatever else. Right. So, you know, Psy realizes that his life is over at the zoo. Psy quote,

this is my family. It's going to be hard to leave them. Why most of them I brought up from the time they were babies. I'm proud of this zoo. I hate to leave it. So he moved to LA with his wife and took that job at the SEALIG Zoo that he'd been offered before. A lot of chimps in the zoo because they also worked in movies, which worked pretty great for Psy because he's around celebrities, there's PR, you know, zoo. Hopefully he's not drinking, though, because otherwise they won't come near him. But the owner was a producer and during World War II, he had taken a big hit and he had auction off his studio and the zoo. So that was in 1924. Psy then worked, he kind of, we kind of don't know what happened to him. He worked as a dude wrangler for a bit.

He's he's he's what now about 50? He's around 50, 60. Okay. Okay. He works as a zoo as a dude wrangler. Then he keep a dude wrangler. Yeah. That's okay. Which way do we go? Stand line. Whoa. Hey, what's this guy doing? He's down. No, man. He's like telling us what to do. Oh, dude, quit poking me with that shit. Why does it gotta keep poking us? I don't know, dude. Stop. Oh, fuck, dude. Stand line. He said after that in in 1925, the San Bernardino son reported Psy was living in Pasadena and had a reunion with the doctor who treated him for the shotgun wound when he was 17. The doctor is now in the past and you know, border supervisors. In 1930, Psy was in the census in the census, it said he was working as a gas

station attendant. Oh, wow. And then he died in 1934. His obituary was on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. He was praised and credited for turning the zoo into one of the best in the world. And he did make he did make advancements with the cages and stuff. Yeah, I don't know about the actual tree. Wow, that's, that's crazy. That is so crazy. Yeah. What a psycho. Yeah. Well, yeah, that is, I mean, that is nuts. There are people who just, yeah, they just, they go for it. They go for it. Yeah, I mean, but yeah, I, the truth is that it is such a, at this point, like animals, and because you, you now, you can find out so much more about nature or animals than you used to, then in this time, you know, when really the only exposure you could have to it would be

in something like this, you know, some sort of like exhibition and like that. So it is, it's not that like, again, I mean, I, you do take issue obviously with any animal being like whipped or beaten or taken out of its natural habitat, but it makes more sense back then way more than it does now. Now it is to me always just, you know, there are certain, like I went somewhere in Australia that's like, you know, rehabs a lot of animals and stuff like that. And so places like that, you know, that's, that's a good place. Or like where you and I one time where we went and saw these kangaroos, they just like had miles to run around, you know, so like they're, again, I mean, it's, you want it, you want to be exposed to that stuff, but you also have to look at the actual sacrifice

for the animals. And, and there are certain species of animals now that like have to be in enclosure, but well, yeah, there's going to be animals, there's going to be more and more animals we're going to have to put in enclosures because of extinction. Yep. But, but overall, I mean, it is just such a terrible existence. Yeah. It's better than an arc though, right? It's better than an arc. I don't know. I heard the arc was pretty lit. Yeah. A lot of, a lot of species swapping I heard. Time's got you out there for a while. You know what I mean? Wouldn't be uncommon for you to watch a snake bang a deer. You know what I mean? Or watch a monkey pork an elephant. You know what I'm saying? I don't know. So the reason I found this was Tony Ho-Tran

wrote an article, Smoking Psi DeVry was the original Tiger King on narratively. And then that led me to Margaret Hansen, who's a historian. I found her thesis and then a later article, The Trial of Psi DeVry, Manly Negotiations for Control over Animals, People, and Public Space at Chicago's Fursuit. And she goes into a lot more of the masculinity shit that's fascinating. How masculine he is presented, is that what you mean? Yeah, and how that was rewarded. And as if it's not now, but how it was, you know, a guy who could punch a bear was like the ultimate, you know, awesomeness. Yeah, I mean, look, I'm not, yeah, look, a fighting a bear, that's pretty good. But again, it's not necessary. It's not necessary. Like, if you're in the woods,

you're in the middle of nowhere, you beat up a bear, let's talk, let's do this. And that's an animal, there's no reason to have in a zoo. None whatsoever. A bear should be out running around. Yes, for the most, I mean, you know, they just go fucking crazy, as we all would. I mean, as people who are locked up in small cells go crazy and are kept in solitary confinement. And you know, elephants are crazy smart and have crazy social lives, and they should not be in a zoo or in a Taiwanese. I mean, honestly, no, I mean, unless it is like rehabilitative. But yeah, I mean, to think of what an elephant must go through, not beyond being an enclosure, but being like forced to do shows and, you know, watching those around you get tortured. And I mean,

it's just like it is an abysmal existence. And if you are able to process sensitivity, which a lot of these animals are, yeah, I mean, that, you know, process the trauma that you see around you, I mean, it's fucking nuts. Yeah. That's why I want to, I want a zoo of zookeepers. Now that'd be tight. I don't want to, that'd be great, you know. Down boy, down! He loves his beach ball. Get down boy, down! You know. I'm sure we're gonna get letters from, I'm sure we're gonna get letters from people who work in zoos. Well, there again, I mean, there are fine lines with some of that shit. Because there are, again, like we're saying, there are places where, you know, we are losing animals. I mean, we're losing feces of animals at such a rapid rate. If you work

in a zoo, you can be against the zoo, but also want to help the animals in the zoo. Like that makes sense. I have a friend who, you know, I mean, worked at Marine Land in Canada. It's a great place to take great care. Great place. Nothing ever has been shown that they do anything wrong. And, and he basically, he just got a job there and then so quickly he was working with whales. Yeah. And he was just like, what the fuck? And he was like enamored with it. And he has this whole, there's, I mean, his story is amazing. His name is Phil Demers. And he has a documentary called The Walrus and the Whistleblower out now that's really awesome that people should check out. But, but he, he's going and he's like, wow, this access is amazing. This job is amazing. And then he's

sort of like, holy shit. This is fucking torture for these things. And, and his life gets upended by trying to shut down Marine Land. But, but yeah, I mean, again, yeah, it's not just, I mean, there are people who do great work with animals who work in zoos. There's, there's no doubt about that. But on an over, like when you broadly look at it, enclosed animals overall is, you know, tragic. Yeah. When I was in high school, we went to Marine World, which was near my, where I grew up. And I took mushrooms and. Oh, why? And at one point, we were looking at seals. And, and, and I was just super focused on the seals. And then I looked around and everyone else in the class had clearly left quite a while ago. And I was just on mushrooms, lost in my world.

And it was like, it was fun. I'll see some animals. It was closed. We were the only people there. So I was just wandering around Marine World on mushrooms. High school. All right. Anything else? Okay. I think that's everything. We beat seals. Not too, not too political. By the way, people always say they feel sorry for you whenever I start talking about politics. They have no idea what's happening. They feel bad for me when you that I'm said, like, that you have to listen to me talk about politics. Again, I mean, I wouldn't, I would, I, I am happier to be keyed into what's going on than to ignore it. You know, I mean, but you're also on the same wavelength. Oh, completely. Yeah. No, there's no, yeah. Of course. I mean, yeah.

Yeah. What a great role I have. I have the best role. You get so much of the shit. I get some shit, but man, so funny. It's way better for me. You fucking idiot. Okay. Thanks, everybody. All right. Stay safe out there.