Henry Trefflich

Henry Trefflich was an animal importer and dealer. He procured animals of many different types and sizes from Africa, Asia and South America and imported them to the United States via ship and airplane. He sold them to zoos, circuses, Hollywood studios and also to various private and government research institutions. His business was headquartered on Fulton Street in Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA where his shop was considered a local attraction in its own right. In the early 1960s his building along with the neighboring properties were bought by the Port Authority for the construction of New York Citys World Trade Center.

Henry Heribert Fredrich Trefflich was born in Hamburg, Germany to Heinrich and Carolyn Trefflich. Heinrich was the general manager of Fockelmanns Tiergarten, a zoo in Hamburg. Henry was born in the home which the family occupied on the zoo grounds. Heinrich had been born in Grosshettstedt, Thuringia, Germany and first became acquainted with animals by watching, tracking, catching and trapping them in the forest there as a young boy. His family moved to Hamburg later and both his parents worked as attendants on passenger ships. Heinrich completed a stint in the Kaisers Navy and afterwards worked on a shipping line where he collected animals from various ports and brought them back to Germany as a way to make money on the side. Sometime after he became married he impressed August Fockelmann with his knowledge of animals and took the job as zoo manager so he could spend his time ashore with his family.

Source: Wikipedia