Berlin Zoo
Before the war, in 1939, the large, beautiful Berlin zoo was a sight to see. It housed over 4,000 animals. On November 22, 1943, the British bombed the Berlin Zoo completely destroying the amazing elephant house. The British attacked again a few days later on the 26-27, and set loose a multitude of animals. Big cats and apes now roamed the streets and had to be hunted down. Lions, jaguars, snakes, apes and the like fled the smoke and fire along with terrified people. They were all gunned down. By wars end, the entire population of over 4,000 animals was cut down to just 91 specimens. The survivors included two lions, two hyenas, one Asian bull elephant, one bull hippopotamus, ten hamadryads, one chimpanzee, one Oriental white stork, and one shoebill.