Jurgen Schulz grew up in one of the most intriguing family businesses imaginable, and one that will probably never be duplicated. Many of the world’s zoos, and for that matter, the world’s people, are beneficiaries of the Schulz family’s work, which continues (on a slightly less ambitious scale) in the Texas Hill Country today.

The story starts in 1898, when Jurgen’s grandfather, Christoph Schulz, worked as a chef on a German ship, sailing the west coast of Africa. Seeing the amazing variety of exotic species, Schulz left his job and began capturing animals to take back to Europe. Beginning with chimpanzees, monkeys and birds, Schulz soon expanded his business until he had become the world’s leading supplier of exotic species to big-city zoos. He founded the first “big game ranch” in Africa, and became one of the most famous hunters in Africa. His wife, Elizabeth, managed the finances and traveled with him to care for the captured animals. A 1948 article in the Sydney (Australia) newspaper recalled how Mrs. Schulz had kept the city’s first rhino alive by bottle-feeding it for several weeks.

During World War I, all collection of wildlife was temporarily stopped, and the Schulzes lost their ranch in Tanganyika. They moved to South Africa for several years, then returned to Tanganyika (now Tanzania) in 1925.

Between the two world wars, Chistoph and Elizabeth Schulz rebuilt their business, led some of the most successful hunting expeditions in history, and supplied African game to zoos all over the world. Some of the biggest shipments went to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Budapest and Rome; the largest consignment was to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois. It included the parents of the first rhinos ever bred in captivity.

Christoph and Elizabeth retired in 1937 to travel around the world, leaving the management of the company to their only son, Walter. That same year, their grandson, Jurgen, was born. World ...

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