Donald Burns (c. 1850 - ?) was born in Canada and died in an unknown location. When he was in his late teens, he traded furs in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and sold bobcats, raccoons, and other animals to traveling circuses and menageries throughout Canada. He moved to New York, New York, just after the American Civil War ended and opened his first business in 1866 selling birds, chickens, dogs, and other small animals to the general public. In 1875 he established a wholesale animal trade business and became the go-to animal dealer for circuses, museums, menageries, and organ grinders. Located just one block from the East River shipping piers, Burns could easily commission sea captains who were going to Africa, South America, and India to bring back exotic birds and animals, which he would in turn sell to more established New York animal dealers. This location also allowed him to export American deer, moose, and caribou to private zoological parks in Europe. Although he specialized in birds and snakes, it was not uncommon for Burns to serve as the middle-man in deals involving much larger animals, including gorillas, elephants, panthers, tigers, and more. In 1892 Burns received about 90 swans of different varieties. In the summer of 1893 Mary Baker Eddy gifted two of these swans to the city of Concord, New Hampshire, for the pond in White Park. In 1915 Burns was placed in the New York City Home for the Aged and Infirm, Manhattan Division, on Blackwell's Island.

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