By Terri Jo Ryan

Tribune-Herald staff writer

A group of Waco fishing buddies in 1952 began discussing the need for a zoo in their neck of the woods. Ernest C. “Buddy” Porterfield, pet shop owners Wilfred “Mac” McLaren and Dub Martin; Roy Hutchins and Earl Golding — on a five-day jaunt to Padre Island — hashed out the details leading to the establishment of the Central Texas Zoological Park some three years later.

Golding (1926-2007), outdoors sportswriter for the Tribune-Herald for more than 50 years, was a leader of the effort to bring birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals into the lives of locals for educational and recreational purposes. The founders opened the Central Texas Zoological Park on the grounds of the old Blackland Fire Station at the municipal airport, after building cages and moving animals in two trucks and three cars.

In a feature story on July 29, 1956, with the headline “Watch your zoo grow,” Golding reported that Bryce Brown, curator of the Strecker Museum at Baylor University (now the Mayborn Museum Complex) was elected president of the organization. He added that the zoo had on hand already a ring-tailed monkey, bald eagle, a “money-faced owl,” two wolf pups and a 10-foot boa constrictor. The Fort Worth zoo offered Waco an African lion, and beasts scheduled to arrive within the year included a javelina, ocelot, bobcat and puma.

Golding added, in a 1961 feature story, that five new arch-shaped bird pens were nearing completion, along with an alligator pond, all founded by private donations and the 10-cent gate fee. The five-acre fenced-in tract near the municipal airport “didn’t cost the taxpayers a cent,” he exulted.

Buddy Porterfield (1922-2002) and his wife, LaVerne (1925-1997), were at the center of the zoo’s life for almost a decade, devoting seven days a week to animal care and augmented by other volunteer helpers on the weekends. A donation box at the front took in $20-$100 per weekend, but upkeep costs were always a challenge.

To feed the critters, for example, local ranchers were asked when a cow, horse or sheep died to donate the carcass to the zoo. Veterinarians and highway patrol officers alerted the Porterfields about road-kill or freshly slaughtered animals. (A retired slaughterhouse worker prepared the meat for a fee of a nickel a pound, they recalled).

Grocers were asked to donate their old produce about to be tossed out. A field in front of the zoo was planted with hay, which produced about 300 bales a year.

For several years, the Cen-Tex Zoo, as it was known for short, had no paid employees. Eventually, a part-time zoo keeper was hired for $10 a month.

Lesly Rascoe of Woodway, granddaughter of the Porterfields, said the zoo represented a herculean effort by a devoted band of do-it-yourselfers. No tax dollars were sought in those early days, said Rascoe, vice president of communications at Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. Funding came from private individuals, community fundraisers, foundations and civic organizations.

Through trade with other zoos, Waco’s zoo was able to expand its species holdings. In the early days, according to news articles from the Tribune-Herald files, reptiles and serpents from Central Texas were sent to European capitals seeking to rebuild their collections following World War II. A European zoo, meanwhile, sent Waco a Siberian tiger and other exotic beasts as a gesture of goodwill.

As a result of such deals, the zoo’s collection became more varied. Two of the mountain lions used in the 1957 Disney film Old Yeller were acquired by zoo founders. The following year, their five cubs proved valuable in swaps with other institutions.

By 1964, the zoo had 126 species on-site and was considered in the top 50 nationwide in the number of living specimens.

Sources: The Texas Collection at Baylor University; Tribune-Herald clip files, CameronParkZoo.com