Original run on CBS: January 6, 1963 – 1971.

The program was syndicated from 1971 to 1988, and was revived in 2002. The
show’s second incarnation currently airs on Animal Planet.

Perkins was host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom from 1963 to 1985. He
was also director of the New York Zoo in Buffalo, N.Y., the Lincoln Park Zoo
in Chicago and the St. Louis Zoo. He died in 1986 at age 81.

April 15, 1962

Mother Belle with baby Packy

Portland’s Asian elephant  Packy is the first elephant to be born in the
Western Hemisphere and is the tallest and oldest male in the U.S. His
mother, Belle, came from Thailand and died, April 22, 1997 and his
father was Thonglaw, he was born in Cambodia and died November
25, 1974.

Packy’s first birthday party