Schoolgirl's Essay on the Coxville Zoo

The charge for entering is twenty-five cents for adults, and ten cents for children. If you are unable to pay, you may visit free of charge.

As you enter, you will probably hear nearly every kind of noise imaginable that an animal can make, because there are over five hundred different kinds of birds and animals, ranging from monkeys, bears, and alligators, to lovebirds, birds of paradise, and hens from Africa. Some of these birds, such as the one of paradise and the peacock, are so beautiful that a few Indians come to the zoo every year, at opening of spring, and gather up their shed feathers which they highly prize and adore.

This unique zoo was started as a hobby in 1939, and the first animal was a monkey. The monkey started out as a household pet of the Coxes, and became one of the much-stared-at animals in the zoo.

Beside the zoo, there is a beautiful rock garden, built as a hobby by Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Cox. Mrs. Cox was interested in building small size houses, and modeling things out of clay. As a result, she has built a "little city" surrounding a fish pond. Mr. Cox helped her build the school house, with a teacher and children all around it, a rail-road station with toy tracks and train, a house with a manger scene, a home, and people everywhere. In back of the little city are the natural rock formations. These rocks have been found all over the United States and brought back to Coxville. You have to use your imagination a bit, but you can find bears, mermaids, squirrels, dogs, rats, and anything else you would like to imagine.

There have been quite a few generous people who have given animals to the zoo. An oil man once gave a mountain lion, and a man with a traveling show gave a baboon. There is one little boy in Austin who boards his monkey out there during the winter, and takes him back home during the summer, when the monkey can stay outside, because his mother doesn't like to have it in the house. People who have found large turtles have often given them to the zoo, also.

Many improvements have been added since the zoo began its life thirteen years ago. [The zoo was started in 1939; it appears that this essay was written in 1952.] Cages for the wild monkeys and baboons were built about three years ago. Huge cages for the lions, and a large pool for the alligators were added six months ago.

The hired man keeps care of feeding the animals and keeping the zoo clean, but Mr. Cox does most of the work. The animals eat a terrific amount of food every week, and there is a sign out there asking you to drop a nickel or dime in the donation can to keep them all fed. Here is what the sign says.

Thank you,