Even outside, with the doors closed, squawking and twittering fills the air. Inside a trio of ducks–a large white one and a pair of mallards–waddles freely around closely packed cages that hold a Noah’s sampling of animals: pigeons, starlings, little raccoons wrestling, baby bunnies huddling together or quietly munching a bit of salad. A house cat sleeps atop a cage full of guinea pigs. Nearby a mother opossum nurses her young. There are sea gulls, chinchillas, a gray fox, a kestrel, finches, a monkey, and tanks of fish. A great horned owl stares unblinkingly in a cage set next to a glass case that holds stuffed birds of prey. There is a distinct odor of animals. There is also a constant stream of humans, most of them parents or grandparents with youngsters in tow.
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Ray Schwarz is the superintendent of conservation for the Forest Preserve District and the man designated to explain the board’s decision. “We’ve been thinking about [closing Trailside] for the last couple of years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture cited us–the floor is wood and needs to be covered with a sanitizable material, the walls need to be sanitizable, the mammals are overcrowded, the ventilation is poor, and so forth.”
“We’re not taking the building down,” he says. “It’s got too much historical significance–it was built in 1874. We’re contacting the historic society in the Oak Park-River Forest area, to get their ideas. But there’s a bad odor in the building–even as a historical site, we’re going to have problems with that.”
“A lot of classes come here for field trips. A lot of them are from the inner city–and this might be their only chance to see some of these animals up close. Many of them have not seen a woodchuck, or a wild rabbit, or baby animals. Where are they going to see them? Sure, you can take those kids to the zoo, and you can show them zebras. But I think it’s more important to see something you can relate to–something you might see in your own neighborhood someday–than a camel.”
The matter is not going to be quietly dropped. The normally somnolent River Forest board of trustees became indignant after a group of residents, spearheaded by Jane Morocco, made a presentation to them on May 21. The board voted unanimously to have the village’s legal counsel send a letter to George Dunne, requesting that the order to close Trailside be rescinded. They are also looking into who’s in charge of the Nehmzow bequest.
