Hearst Castle

Description

William Randolph Hearst created the largest private zoo in the world on his ranch at San Simeon. Traveling the winding ranch road to Hearst Castle guests passed through fenced fields populated with many species of exotic wild animals freely roaming over the hillsides as though they were native to this land. It was an amazing sight. The ever-changing collection of animals was established in 1923 when American bison, Rocky Mountain elk, and European white fallow deer were acquired. Formally named the Hearst Garden of Comparative Zoology, the zoo had its antecedents in the menageries and game parks maintained by royalty and other wealthy classes of society for thousands of years. The Hearst zoo followed an ancient model, a zoo owned by a wealthy man calculated to impress, amaze, and entertain.

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