Zend PHP Class Variable retention for mysql queries

[dv2236]

I have a flash application which uses a single php file to retrieve records from a database (using the Zend framework). When the application first begins, I make a call to the php to set a class variable, so that all future requests to the database will use this variable to select records based on its value. So here is how the class begins:\[code\]class MyClass{ private $animal = ""; public function setAnimal($anim) { $this->animal = $anim; echo($this->animal); //this correctly prints the variable I passed in }\[/code\]Later, based on user input, I make a call to a different method in this class, but it's as if the class variable $animal has been forgotten, because it no longer has a value on any subsequent accessing of the class:\[code\]public function getAnimals() { echo('getAnimals: '); echo($this->animal); //this prints nothing - as if it doesn't know what "animal" is $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM animals WHERE animal='$this->animal'"); //and therefore this query doesn't work $t = array(); while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { array_push($t, $row); } return $t; }\[/code\]So my question is, how can I get a PHP class variable to persist so that I can set it once, and I can access it anytime during the life of an application?