Decline and Fall It was such a mess for a Zoo, the place in a state of decline. Rust on the gates, grounds overgrown, the hippo pool covered in slime. The parrots were just skin and bone, weak and unable to fly. The monkeys were out of their cages, yet nobody thought to ask why. The lions had lost all their fur, the leopards no longer had spots, the elephants trunks were as thin as their tails, the marmosets eyes were just slots. The keepers it is said were to blame. How could they create such a mess? The answer is really quite simple, they said, we just got corrupt with success.