Statue Gottfried Claes Carl Hagenbeck at the Hagenbeck Zoo, Hamburg (Germany)

G. C. CARL HAGENBECK (Gottfried Claes Carl Hagenbeck)
BEGRÜNDER DER FIRMA (FOUNDER OF THE COMPANY)
GEB. 13-3-1810 - GEST. 3-10-1887 (Born: 13 March 1810 - Died: 3 October 1887)

It all began with a few wooden tubs in the Hamburg district of St. Pauli. In 1848, the fish wholesaler Gottfried Claes Carl Hagenbeck discovered that he could not only earn money by trading fish, but also by exhibiting "bycatch". He showed six seals on the Spielbudenplatz that had been caught in the nets of Finkenwerder fishermen. Gottfried Claes Carl Hagenbeck began his modest animal trading business with the occasional purchase of exotic animals brought to Hamburg by merchants and ship officers, which he ran as a trading menagerie on the Spielbudenplatz from 1863 onwards. At the age of 21, his eldest son Carl Hagenbeck took over the business in 1866 and expanded it into the largest animal trading house in the world. The bronze bust was created in 1907 by the sculptor Rudolf Franke.

The Hagenbeck Zoo (Tierpark Hagenbeck) is a zoo in Stellingen, Hamburg, Germany. The collection began in 1863 with animals that belonged to Carl Hagenbeck Sr. (1810–1887), a fishmonger who became an amateur animal collector. The park itself was founded by Carl Hagenbeck Jr. (1844–1913) in 1907 and it is still operated and owned by the Hagenbeck family today. It is known for being the first zoo to use open enclosures surrounded by moats, rather than barred cages, to better approximate animals' natural environments. Over the years, the zoo has gained a good reputation for successfully breeding rare and endangered species such as the Asian Elephant and the Siberian Tiger.