I Rescued a Tiger from a New York Apartment – ​​and Other Animal Stories from the Bronx Zoo Honcho’s 50 Years on the Job

It’s a Bronx tail.

For 125 years, the Bronx Zoo has dazzled and inspired visitors with exotic and beautiful creatures such as gorillas, tigers and lemurs – oh, my!

“Guests love the care, dedication and passion our staff has to ensure these animals were well cared for,” Jim Breheny, director of the Bronx Zoo and a Throggs Neck resident, 64, told The Post .

“There is the connection and the bond they have with each other.”

In honor of its quasquicentennial anniversary, the Bronx Zoo is rolling out a new quarter-mile walking trail of beastly art on Saturday called Animal Chronicles, featuring 13 unique environmental scenes, 68 critter sculptures and more artistic nods to the zoo’s illustrious history. Animal rescue.

“It’s just amazing, you know?” Breheny said. “People say you can learn something by talking to anyone. It’s the same here. You can learn something from interacting with any animal.”

He has had this unique connection firsthand for quite some time: Breheny has worked at the zoo for 51 years, starting with a role in the children’s zoo when he was 14 in the early 1970s. As a young animal lover, Breheny admitted he simply filled out an application, called and was hired.

“No, I never thought I would end up in this position,” he joked about his current job title.

Moon attraction

During his fifty years of work, Breheny interacted with all the zoo’s creatures, including taking camel rides in his early years. However, some of the wildest stories involving the animals took place outside the confines of the zoo, but still on the job.

In 2003, Breheny, who has a degree in biology from Fordham, was attending a speech on responsible pet ownership when, ironically, he was called upon to snatch a tiger that was being kept illegally in a Harlem apartment.

“I honestly didn’t believe it. I thought it would look like an ocelot or a bobcat,” he recalled. “People exaggerate all the time.”

It turned out to be Ming, the infamous “full grown” tiger that “took over the entire apartment,” and Breheny and his team were responsible for getting the tiger out of the apartment. It took two doses of tranquilizers to knock the big man out.

Although the Ming rescue was the most adrenaline-inducing incident of Breheny’s tenure, there have been other eventful incidents involving “venomous snakes” over the years.

Around 2005, Breheny was in talks with the Pakistani government to acquire Leo, a rare snow leopard that brought new genetics to the species’ population.

“His genetic contribution through breeding was very important to the snow leopard population in North America,” said Breheny, noting that cubs from a few generations earlier are currently on display.

Numerous animal residents also evolved into famous attractions at the Fordham Road institution, dating all the way back to the 1903 snow leopard attraction, the first exhibit of the species in North America.

In 1990, Rapunzel, the Sumatran rhino – a currently endangered species – was a fan favorite until her death in 2005.

Breheny most remembers her “easy going” attitude and being a “great animal.”

There was also Pattycake, the first gorilla born in New York. In 1972, she was born at the Central Park Zoo, but broke her arm at a young age and was transferred to the Bronx Zoo. She became an incredibly important permanent resident in the early 1980s before dying in 2013 at the age of 40.

“That was the first gorilla we raised. She was certainly a charismatic animal,” Breheny said.

“We learned how much young gorillas resemble young people.”

As the majestic gorilla grew, integrated and reproduced, she was also one of the first to take up painting. Breheny has one of her last works in his office.

Born to be wild

Since 1899, the zoo – a haven for alligators, lemurs, penguins, poison dart frogs and more from around the world – has pioneered animal care.

“One of the biggest advances I have seen is in the way the animals and staff interact with each other through advances in behavioral enrichment and training,” said Breheny.

He added that while years ago animals had to be anesthetized for blood tests, now trained workers can safely collect samples while patients are fully conscious.

Even in large cats, picking up their tail to draw blood can be done safely. \

Initiatives like these began in 1901. Although still in its infancy, the zoo launched the first U.S. veterinary program in a zoological park, which grew into a full-fledged animal hospital in 1916.

What’s more, the beastly oasis, first called the New York Zoological Park, was deliberately created to play a crucial role in conservation – a stark contrast to what the nation had seen in the early 19th century. The tourist magnet was a happy coincidence.

“When they were planning the zoo around 1895, everyone in America was still thinking, ‘This is another circus-like thing,’” Angel Hernandez, the official historian of the Bronx Borough President’s Office, told The Post.

“There was no place to study the animals, their habitats and the countries they came from,” Hernandez said. “So the idea was for the New York Zoological Park to be innovative and address these issues – and give more animals space.”