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Roberson investigated.

“A little baby monkey arrived at the zoo a short time ago and it was then that the trouble between the male monkeys and the female began,” she explained. To prevent injury or death, the monkeys were separated, “in a humane spirit.”

Two of the monkeys perished in January of 1912 due to the cold, but the zoo’s bears, bobcats, raccoons, badgers, snow geese and mountain lions didn’t mind the snow at all.

On July 31, 1914 a mother bear and her cub escaped their enclosure, thanks to a faulty gate. Picnickers from the Spokane Nazarene Church watched as park attendants drove them back to their enclosure, practically unphased. But a case of monkey business caused concern the same day.

“We warned the girls about getting too close to the cage,” said Rev. CV LaFontaine, in charge of the Nazarene picnickers. “They persisted, however, in going inside the iron railings to tease the monkeys. Finally, the animals became exasperated and reached through the bars, biting the little girls and tearing their clothing.”

The girls left without revealing their names.

As its animal population grew, a move to Indian Canyon Park was proposed in 1914, but rejected. By 1918, reporters claimed the cages were too small and cramped and a move to Indian Canyon would help resolve the issues. Again, the proposal was ignored.

Disaster stuck on Sunday, February 15, 1920 when 9-year-old Gerald Harmon’s left arm was pulled through a cage’s bars by an adult brown bear.

Dr. T.D. Burger assessed the injuries in the Gazette. “It is a wonder the boy’s whole elbow was not crushed,” Dr. Burger said. “As it was, the elbow as well as the hand was badly mangled. A small artery was severed and caused considerable bleeding. I had to take a large number of stitches. The boy bore the pain well and is resting quietly.”

Complaints about the cost of the zoo began to rise in February of 1921. The entire park budget for the year was $149,146. But $4662 was drained by the zoo. In 1923, experts reported the zoo enclosures were in serious disrepair and would require $5000 to correct them. The funding was denied, but supporters of the zoo held on.

More bears joined the population after a discharged soldier from Tacoma brought two polar bear cubs home from deployment in Alaska. When they grew too big to manage, the soldier’s mother forced him to sell them to Aubrey White, the president of the Spokane Park Board. She paid $200 for the pair.

When 9-year-old Elizabeth Harris came to see the polar bears on July 10, 1923 she carried a handful of bread to feed them. Both bears pounced for the bread as she reached through the bars, severing her arm as her nanny looked on. Harris survived the attack and moved to Seattle. The bears survived too.

The popularity of the Manito Zoo was dwindling. Nearby neighbors grew weary of the sounds and smells of the zoo. But its fate wasn’t sealed until the American stock market crashed in October of 1929. The Great Depression wiped out millions of dollars, nationwide. Unemployment skyrocketed. City budgets were cut to the bone protect the assets that remained.

By 1932, the zoo was closed for good. Some animals were rehomed at other Northwestern zoos. Some were released into the wild. But most were dispatched by park employees. January 1933 newspapers described the sound of 30-30 rifles firing within city limits. Spokane citizens grieved the brutality of the zoo’s final acts.

Little remains of the Manito Park Zoo, apart from vintage postcards and photographs. The Manito Park Bench Café (1928 S. Tekoa St.) stands where the peanut shack once sold treats for the monkeys. And a few bars, chains and hooks are embedded in the rock face behind the Café. But a zoo once thrived at Manito Park, and the stories told help keep its memory alive.