Slater Park Zoo is a former zoo in

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Fa ...

that operated until the mid-1990s.

History

Early in Slater Park's development, a small collection of animals was put on display just across from the Daggett House. In 1916, this miniature zoo housed only

pigeons Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

rabbits Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit spe ...

, and

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the ...

which roamed in a fenced run. A small herd of

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The com ...

were in residence by 1936 but not until the late 1950s were any really exotic animals added to the park's menagerie. At that time some of the deer were traded for a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

, a

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia ...

, an

Arctic wolf The Arctic wolf (''Canis lupus arctos''), also known as the white wolf or polar wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf There are 38 subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' listed in the taxonomic authority '' Mammal Species of the World'' (2005, 3rd e ...

, a

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chac ...

, two

barbary sheep The Barbary sheep (''Ammotragus lervia''), also known as aoudad (pronounced �ɑʊdæd is a species of caprine native to rocky mountains in North Africa. While this is the only species in genus ''Ammotragus'', six subspecies have been descri ...

, and several

monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

. A series of concrete-block shelters with fenced runs were constructed to house the new arrivals and others soon to be purchased from the

Ringling Brothers The Ringling brothers (originally Rüngling) were seven American siblings who transformed their small touring company of performers into one of the largest circuses in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Four brothers ...

Barnum & Bailey Circus The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...

. At one time, the City of Pawtucket had an arrangement with the circus to quarter numerous animals in the zoo for several months of the year. Its most famous resident was

Fanny the elephant Fanny was a female Asian elephant who spent the majority of her life in a small zoo in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Biography Born in the wild in Asia, Fanny was purchased from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1958 by the City of Paw ...

, who lived at the zoo for more than three decades. Suffering financially, much of the zoo was closed in the 1990s."R.I. Town Council Votes to Shut Zoo". ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', January 22, 1993. Today, while many of the original enclosures are still there, the area now serves as a petting zoo called

Daggett Farm Daggett may refer to: Places United States * Daggett, California * Daggett, Indiana * Daggett, Michigan * Daggett Township, Michigan * Daggett, Pennsylvania * Daggett County, Utah * Daggett Brook, a stream in Minnesota * Daggett Brook Township, ...

References

{{Authority control Articles needing infobox zoo Buildings and structures in Pawtucket, Rhode Island Former zoos Zoos established in 1916 Zoos in Rhode Island