SPECIAL SECTION | Sunday, September 2, 2018

40TH ANNIVERSARY

THE

JACK
FACTOR
Longtime zoo director
credited with putting
Columbus on the map

See more photos, video and more at

Dispatch.com/jackhanna.
S2 Sunday, September 2, 2018 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Working with Hanna was never boring

John Switzer

W
hen I was a young
reporter, I was given the
assignment of covering
the Columbus Zoo, back
when that was its full name because
the aquarium had not yet been built.
At that time, Jack Hanna was fairly
new in his career as director of the zoo.
I got to know him very well, and work-
ing with him was never boring.
He had two traits that I really
liked. One was he always returned
my phone calls, no matter where he
was in the world. That was big for a
reporter on deadline. If I had to talk to
him, I would call the zoo and employ-
ees would get in touch with him, even
if he was in the most remote part of
Africa.
On top of that, whenever he went
anywhere to talk about the zoo, he
always took animals with him. He said
people would never fully appreciate an
animal unless they could see it up close
and perhaps even touch it.
I remember one Christmas season,
the zoo folks came Downtown to wish
people a happy holiday. One of the
animals they brought when they visited
The Dispatch was a young leopard, and
I still remember what a pleasure it was
petting it. Hanna even brought animals
when he talked at my church, right in
the sanctuary.
One of the stories I wrote while cov-
ering the zoo was when a rare, exotic
goose on loan from the Cincinnati Zoo
met its demise. The goose was allowed
to roam the zoo grounds, but it had
the bad habit of pecking visitors on the
backs of their legs.
One day a work crew was doing a job
on the zoo grounds, and the goose was
tormenting a couple of the workers. Jack Hanna in 1989 with a white tiger
They complained to their foreman cub at the zoo. [DISPATCH FILE PHOTO]
and he jokingly said, “Ah, throw it to
the cheetahs.” whole family lives peacefully together.
The cheetahs were kept in a fenced- But the thing I most remember
in area, and that’s exactly what the about that adventure was one evening
workmen did. They threw the goose in London when, after dinner, the
over the fence. entourage decided to take a walk near
I called Hanna, and he didn’t try to Buckingham Palace.
cover it up. As I remember it, one of the The palace grounds were separated
first things he said was, “Have you ever from the sidewalk by a tall, ancient
seen how fast a cheetah hits its prey?” wall. As we walked along, one of the
He said it is like a speeding bullet. He zoo people said to me, “Boy, I would
told me exactly what had happened. I sure like a piece of that wall for a
appreciated that. souvenir.”
Then another time, I was accom- Like a dummy, a little farther along
panying Hanna, the zoo veterinarian I noticed a loose chip on that wall and
and gorilla keepers to England. Over gave it to her. In a nanosecond we were
there, a man who had a private zoo near surrounded by six police officers.
London had revolutionized the way I immediately told myself, “I know I Jack Hanna directs a kangaroo off the walking path at the Columbus Zoo and
gorillas were kept. am going to jail.” Hanna turned around Aquarium in May. [ADAM CAIRNS / DISPATCH]
He would put one big silverback male and walked up to one of those police-
in an enclosure with multiple females men and rapped him on the side of his stranger had walked into the queen’s probably because of Hanna, and told us
and their young, and they all lived helmet. bedroom and sat down on the edge of to go on our way.
peacefully together because that’s the “What are those things made of any- her bed. That story had made all the That’s the way it is with Hanna. He
way they lived in Africa. Before that, ways,” he asked. papers around the world. As a conse- immediately makes a good impression
zoos had thought the animals would rip I said to myself, “Now I know we’re quence, the police and military were on on folks, and they like him.
up one another if put together. going to jail.” high alert, and I think they had the wall
The result of our trip to England I told the police what I was doing, wired for sensitivity. John Switzer is a retired Dispatch
is the gorilla villa at our zoo, where a and they explained that recently a The policemen were amused, columnist. klecker@dispatch.com
 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Sunday, September 2, 2018 S3

Q
&A
‘So, Jack, what’s your ...’
By Mike Wagner
The Columbus Dispatch

W
e asked for 20 min-
utes of time from Jack
Hanna, director emeri-
tus of the Columbus
Zoo and Aquarium, to ask him ques-
tions that fans might if they ever got
the chance. Three hours later, Hanna
was still telling stories. This is the
edited version of that conversation.

FAVORITE ANIMAL? “Tough one, but

it’s the lion. It’s been my favorite since I
was a kid. My mom took me to see ‘Born
Free’ (a 1966 British movie featuring
lions) when I was 16. And I said when
we were walking out I wanted to be a
zookeeper. I asked Sue (his wife) after
we got engaged if we could go to Africa
someday. Then we danced to the ‘Born
Free’ song at our wedding reception.
There are so many beautiful animals I
love, but the lion is special to me.”

SMARTEST ANIMAL? “Not a good

joke anymore but probably Sue.
Elephants are so smart or have intel-
ligence, and a lot of people don’t
realize that. I think the elephant will
be proven in time to be among the
smartest animals on the planet.”

MOST BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL?

“Definitely Sue … sorry. But I would Jack Hanna looks out on the Heart of Africa exhibit at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. He says he’s most proud of what’s been
say the snow leopard.” built at the zoo under his tenure. [ADAM CAIRNS/DISPATCH]

MOST MISUNDERSTOOD ANIMAL?
“Snakes and sharks. It’s terrible that
sometimes people are attacked by
both of those, but those two are defi-
nitely misunderstood by the public.”
MOST LOVABLE ANIMAL? “I think
most would say the koala, and they
are lovable. But for me it was our
dogs. One retriever and one lab. We
lost them a couple years ago, and
they were family. I once owned a pet
shop, and I would bring them home
all the time. We have always had
dogs, and we are considering getting
some new ones this year.”
FIRST PET? “I told my dad I wanted
a dog and I got a parakeet instead. He
said, ‘Jack, this is a living creature
and you have to care for it every day.’
He was testing me before he would
get me a dog. I took care of Petey the
parakeet for four years, and I buried
him in a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes box at
the top of the hill on our farm. When I
lost Petey I cried, and it taught about
love, responsibility and death.”
COOLEST ANIMAL EXPERIENCE YOU
HAVE HAD? “Visiting the mountain
gorillas (in Rwanda). I’ve done it 17
times. It’s just an experience that
feels like it’s on a different planet.”
HAS AN ANIMAL EVER HARMED YOU?
“A young elephant almost broke my
ribs in Georgia. It pushed me against
a post with his head. There was the
beaver that took a chunk out of my
hand on David Letterman’s televi-
sion show.
I’ve been bit a few times. I was
bitten by an anaconda when I was
helping a guy at a Florida zoo. It was
a huge anaconda, 15 feet long. He
had my whole hand in his mouth.
His jaws froze and I was in shock and
didn’t feel a thing. It took a few min-
utes for me to get my hand out. Some
guy took pictures of this, and he
ended up selling them to a magazine
and everyone thought I was eaten by
a snake. Oh, I also got kicked by an
ostrich in California right in the nuts
and that put me in the hospital.”
HOW MANY KHAKI OUTFITS DO YOU
HAVE? “Hell, I don’t know. I have a
whole closet full. I do have one of
these safari outfits set aside for my
funeral. I said ‘Sue, I’m not wearing
a damn suit when I’m dead.’”
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT?
“The debacle at Buckingham Palace
when I talked about putting on
underwear in front of Prince Phillip
and I got yelled at repeatedly by
some royal person or someone for
doing everything wrong.”
PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT?
“Very simple. The Columbus Zoo.
When I go back there I like to walk
around by myself and I am in disbe-
lief. I can’t believe what we turned
it into. And it’s so strongly con-
nected to our family. Every Sunday
for years Sue, the girls and I would
go to church, have a picnic and then
pick up trash as a family. The TV
stuff is, whatever, I am proud of it,
and winning Emmys and stuff gets
attention, but what I really live for is
the Columbus Zoo. No one can ever
take that away from me.”
BIGGEST REGRET? “I work day and
night. I got to see my daughters do
cheerleading one time when they were
in high school. I could kick myself in
the damn head because I will never get
those days back. But I don’t want to
relive that again with my grandkids. I
want to see my grandson in England
play sports. I have another who plays
college basketball. I’m proud of what
I’ve been able to provide for my
family, but it hurts I was away from
them so much.”
IF YOU WEREN’T A ZOOKEEPER, WHAT
WOULD YOU BE? “I would be a farmer.
My dad was real close to buying a
pig farm for Sue and I in Tennessee.
I would have been happy with that
life. Sue, not so much. She said her
prayers about that one.”
WHAT MAKES YOU MAD? “When
people talk about how animals should
be back out in the wild and zoos
are bad or prisons for the animals.
Millions are spent on these zoos, and
the animals have a better environ-
ment than some people have.”
DO YOU EAT MEAT? “Yes. I’ve never
been rude to anyone from the general
public. But I was eating a hamburger
in an airport in Minnesota once and
this lady tore into me for eating
meat. I’ll admit I gave it right back to
her.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY PHOBIAS OR
FEARS? “I don’t dive below 50 feet in
the ocean anymore. I’m a little weird
about heights when I’m climbing
mountains or I’m close to a ledge
hiking. I don’t like that. And I don’t
like my colonoscopies at all.”
WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO RETIRE? “I
am at the zoo a few more years. And
then after that they want to use my
name and stuff, and all that’s fine.
But if they ever need anything after
that, I’ll be there.”
HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEM-
BERED? “As a simple guy from
Tennessee who tried to do right by
people and his family. And someone
who tried to get the world to protect
our animals. Someone who never
changed who he really was.”
S4 Sunday, September 2, 2018 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Jim Ford holds his 3-year-old son, Jim, as they meet Jack Hanna in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., prior to the “Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild” show that included several animals from the
Columbus Zoo & Aquarium on April 28. [ADAM CAIRNS/DISPATCH PHOTOS]

Wild life
Jack Hanna has
experienced
fascinating
adventures as
well as hard times

By Mike Wagner
The Columbus Dispatch

A
s he chatted with the
desk clerk working the
hotel graveyard shift, the
man in the khaki clothes
and leather Outback hat won-
ders aloud if the cheetah sleeping
in room 116 just might escape.
The young clerk’s eyes widen as
Jack Hanna tells him that cheetahs
can run more than 70 mph, and they
like to go for the throat.
Just after sunrise when Hanna, still
wiping the crust out of his brown
eyes, returns to the lobby, the hotel
worker is waiting for him. The only
person who hasn’t recognized Hanna
in two days says he was terrified half
the night until his supervisor assured
him that he had fallen prey to one of
Hanna’s playful jokes.
(There really is a cheetah sleeping
in room 116, but he’s secure.)
“You got me good, Mr. Hanna,”
says the clerk as one of the world’s Jack Hanna talks about marsupials as Columbus Zoo and Aquarium animal handler Hardy Kern holds a kangaroo
most famous animal ambassadors during the show.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Sunday, September 2, 2018 S5
S6 Sunday, September 2, 2018 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Jack Hanna, his daughter, Julie, and wife, Suzi, hold 3-week-old cheetahs at the zoo on May 29. The cheetahs had been recently rescued in Texas. [ADAM CAIRNS/DISPATCH PHOTOS]
put his arm around him for a selfie.
Hanna turns his attention to the
growing crowd of fans who want an
autograph.
One of the three women who work
for Hanna and save him from himself
multiple times a day, hands him a
cellphone.
“You have to take this call,” she
says.
Hanna ignores the request and
continues signing autographs for the
adoring fans who have transformed
the hotel’s continental breakfast
room into a red-carpet event.
John “Jack” Hanna was born
and raised on a farm in Knoxville,
Tennessee, and now travels 220 days
a year. He has lost track of where he
is and what’s ahead for the day.
“Jack, it’s Saturday. You are in
Scranton, Pennsylvania, and you
have a show to do this afternoon,”
she says, holding the phone out.
“This is your producer, you have to
talk to him.”
The producer of Hanna’s popu-
lar “Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild”
television show tells him he has won
another Emmy award. It’s Hanna’s
fifth.
“Hot dog!” Hanna yells.
“And congratulations,” he tells the
producer.
Jack Hanna signs autographs prior to the “Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild” He never says another word about
show in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. the news that would have had most
pouring champagne.
“Now what are we doing again
today?” Hanna asks, laughing,
knowing the eye roll and scolding are
coming.
Hanna is most known for his love
of animals, but it’s his genuine abil-
ity to connect with people from any
culture that might be his true legacy.
Forty years ago, Hanna took over
a small, dilapidated zoo in Columbus
that many in the city didn’t even
know existed.
He painted bathrooms, shoveled
animal waste, rebuilt the morale of
his workers and established a net-
work of generous donors.
He eventually transformed the
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium —
which drew 2.3 million visitors last
year — into one of the world’s best.
Now 71, Hanna is celebrating his
40th anniversary at the zoo as one
of the most recognizable animal
ambassadors and leaders in wildlife
conservation.
“Jack really put Columbus, Ohio,
on the map,” said Tom Stalf, presi-
dent and CEO of the Columbus
Zoo. “There are many animals we
deal with every day that are highly
endangered. If it wasn’t for Jack’s
commitment to tell their story, to
get people to connect with those
animals, I promise you, the animals
we have around this globe wouldn’t
be as healthy as they are today.”
While Stalf runs the zoo’s daily
operations back in Columbus, Hanna
serves as its global rock star on trips
 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Sunday, September 2, 2018 S7

such as this.
Hanna never considered himself
old until a couple of months ago,
when he pulled out his pill case on
another trip and in it were vitamins
and an assortment of other pills.
He says it right in this moment to
everybody and nobody, poking fun
at himself for having to ask where he
even is.
But the man once named People
Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful”
people is in perpetual motion. He
struggles to sleep every night. He
can’t sit for long in a meeting.
The swarm of admirers finally
dwindles just in time for Hanna to
watch a few minutes of his own TV
show, something he hasn’t done in
years.
But he’s soon distracted by an
adorable little boy who wants to
shake the hand of the man he, too, is
watching on TV.
Hanna signs another one of the
autograph cards he carries to spare
people from grabbing paper out of
the trash or having him sign their
chests.
This is the Hanna that most people
know.
The funny, charming, lovable
animal lover. The champion for
charitable causes who has raised
millions for wildlife conservation,
humanitarian efforts and children’s
organizations.
The television personality who
playfully harassed David Letterman
with his animals for decades and
introduced millions to faraway
animal kingdoms.
Many people know Hanna’s
impulsive side. As a college fresh-
man, he brought a donkey to Jack Hanna with his wife, Suzi, and daughters, from left, Suzanne, Kathaleen, and Julie, in the cheetah exhibit in the early 1980s. The
campus. He once asked his wife, zoo was a family business for the Hanna children, who did chores such as picking up trash on Sundays after church. [HANNA FAMILY]
Suzi, if she would breastfeed a baby
chimpanzee.
And as a new zoo director,
he walked a camel inside the Ohio
Statehouse to meet a governor who
had no idea Hanna or the camel was
coming.
Then there is the Hanna many
don’t know.
The desperate father who sacri-
ficed and risked everything to save
his little girl. The man attacked
on social media as the villain for
defending Sea World on a national
stage and, in another instance,
being blamed in the media for not
saving 48 exotic animals killed by
authorities after they escaped near
Zanesville.
The father of three daughters who
has six grandchildren has quietly
endured multiple back surgeries, two
knee replacements and the inser-
tion of a pacemaker earlier this year
after some heart trouble. (Hanna is
quick to say the heart episode that
prompted the pacemaker wasn’t a
heart attack and he was back to work
five days later. But he does miss his
chest hair.)
“People see the guy on TV with
the beautiful family and amazing
job that takes me around the world
and think my life has been a dream,”
Hanna says. “And don’t get me
wrong — I have had an amazing life.
But we have had our share of real
hard times. But it was those hard,
difficult things that always seem to
lead us to something better.” Jack Hanna offers treats to 1-year-old twin gorillas Macombo II and Mosuba at their birthday party at the zoo on Oct. 27, 1984.
Mac II and Mosuba were the first gorilla twins to be born at a U.S. zoo. [DISPATCH FILE PHOTO]
S8 Sunday, September 2, 2018 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Answered prayers

His little girl screamed in pain

behind the hospital’s glass wall, and
there is nothing Hanna could do but
pray. He tried to watch as doctors
insert a large needle into 2-year-old
Julie’s spine as his wife, Suzi, helped
the doctors hold her down.
Julie, who had leukemia, had a
106-degree fever when she arrived
and is fighting for her life at St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital in
Memphis, Tennessee.
Julie was placed on a floor with
11 other children, and each family
drew a card to see what level of
experimental radiation their child
will receive. The Hannas drew a “5”
which meant Julie would receive the
most severe treatment they offered
at that time in 1977.
It saved her life. Only one other
child on her floor survived.
But Julie remained at St. Jude for
months and was far from out of
danger. The family needed to find a
children’s hospital that could provide
her the long-term care she needed,
and there were only a few in the coun-
try. Columbus had one of them.
Jack received a call from a good
friend Suzi had made through the
pet shop they owned in Knoxville.
The friend’s sister was a judge in
Columbus, and she had seen a news-
paper ad for a zookeeper.
Within weeks of that 1978 call,
Jack was hired as the Columbus
Zoo’s new director.
“If it wasn’t for them seeing that
ad, we probably don’t end up in Jack Hanna offers a leafy meal to manatees at the zoo on May 29. [ADAM CAIRNS/DISPATCH]
 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Jack Hanna with his wife, Suzi, at their wedding in 1968. Suzi said she accepted long
ago that Jack has two wives: her and the zoo. [HANNA FAMILY]
Columbus,” Suzi said. “Doctors
thought Julie was going to die.
And not only did we still have our
daughter, we got a new start in life.
There are so many little things that
could have taken us in a different
direction.”
Julie will be eternally grateful
for the doctors at St. Jude, but the
primitive radiation has caused her a
lifetime of tumors, surgeries, doc-
tor’s appointments and chronic pain.
While Julie was in college, doctors
at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
discovered a tumor almost the size of
a baseball on her brain.
Again, the family’s prayers were
answered and Julie survived.
About a year into her recovery,
Julie was far more concerned about
saving something else than herself.
She met an infant snow leopard
named Satcha at her dad’s zoo. The
vets were planning on euthanizing
the snow leopard because its chest
wall couldn’t separate its heart and
lungs.
“Daddy, Daddy, you can’t let them
do this,” Julie frantically said. “You
can’t let them put him down.”
Jack told the zoo vets to spare the
animal and his daughter’s feelings.
She even took the leopard to the
same doctors who were treating her
at Nationwide Children’s Hospital,
and together, they saved him.
Satcha lived for years and was
able to breed other snow leopards,
which are among the rarest cats in
the world.
“I still have memories of being
behind that glass wall at St. Jude but
I didn’t really understand my par-
ents’ pain until I was trying to save
Satcha,” said Julie, now, 43, who has
cared for hundreds of young animals
Sunday, September 2, 2018 S9
at the Columbus Zoo. “I don’t have
children of my own but I do feel like
a mother when I am taking care of an
animal I love. It makes everything
worth it.”
A soaring balloon
Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through
the Grapevine” vibrates through
the car stereo as Jack Hanna waves
his arms, wiggles in his seat and
attempts a dance he has planned for
all of America.
“Dancing with the Stars” called
Hanna a couple of years ago and
inquired about him being on the
show. It didn’t work out due to
Hanna’s packed schedule.
Hanna still would like to do the
show someday.
One of Hanna’s staffers, who is
juggling the driving, directions and
logistics for that day’s animal show
in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,
reminds Hanna that his knees are
bad, and he can’t dance.
Hanna turns up the music even
louder and shares his vision for the
dance: He will be dressed in green
leaves like Tarzan, and he will swing
on a vine across the stage over live
alligators to Gaye’s timeless song.
“I got it all planned out,” laughed
Hanna. “I’m just going to give people
what they want.”
That’s been Hanna’s PT Barnum-
like philosophy ever since he was
hired to run the Columbus Zoo in
1978 by Mel Dodge, then the direc-
tor of the Columbus Recreation and
Parks Department. Hanna once hired
a guy called “The Great Zucchini”
to shoot himself out of a cannon and
another to walk across a wire over
the tiger enclosure. He appeared on
S10 Sunday, September 2, 2018 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

ABC’s “Good Morning America”

after the twin gorillas at the zoo were
the first to be born in the western
hemisphere. He drove his animals to
schools all over the city, or wherever
he could find a crowd of children. He
has been the host of three national
television shows — “Jack Hanna’s
Animal Adventures,” “Jack Hanna’s
Into the Wild,” and “Jack Hanna’s
Wild Countdown,” which still air
today.
But his tenure also included the
far-less glamorous work of fixing a
dilapidated zoo.
He didn’t take a day off, not even
Christmas, for years and the Hanna
family would spend Sundays after
church picking up trash at the zoo.
But Hanna was also smart enough
to establish relationships with the
city’s power brokers.
He won’t name names. There
are too many friends and donors to
risk leaving someone out. Few have
mastered the win-win business rela-
tionship more than Hanna.
But he gives a lot of credit to his
friend and mentor Dodge, who had
a love for animals almost as big
as Hanna. Over a 10-year period,
Dodge and his family raised eight
lions, two cheetahs and a Siberian ABOVE: A Humboldt penguin
tiger in their Columbus home. wanders around the stage as Jack
Hanna was actually close to leaving Hanna signs autographs during a
the Columbus Zoo in 1985 for a job meet and greet prior to the “Jack
in Miami, but his relationship with Hanna’s Into the Wild” in Wilkes-
Dodge was a big reason he stayed. Barre, Pa., on April 28. [ADAM CAIRNS/
Dodge died in 1991. But his wife, DISPATCH PHOTOS]
Norma, now 93, still adores the man
who became her husband’s most RIGHT: Faith Zapora of Philadelphia
famous hire. introduces her 3-year-old cat Sailor
“I remember Mel telling me about to Jack Hanna during a layover in a
Jack hiring the guy who was going Philadelphia airport.
to walk above the tigers and then
telling me if something went wrong
he wasn’t going to shoot the tigers,”
Norma said, laughing. “Mel knew he
had something special in Jack. the early 1970s and a tragic incident lawsuit against Hanna, which was Seth said he never spoke to his
Jack was a balloon who soared with a lion. settled. older brother about how he lost his
and soared with his big ideas, but “It was my fault,” Hanna said. “I For days, Hanna locked himself arm, and his family never talked
Mel was the line who kept him live with it being my fault every day. in his room. He refused to talk to about the incident. It wasn’t until
grounded.” I prayed for him for all those years anyone, not even Suzi or his dad. about six years ago — after Matthew
The day Norma buried her hus- not knowing whether losing his arm The then 25-year-old Hanna had died — that Seth’s dad talked
band, she opened a letter from impacted his life.” decided to get rid of all of the ani- to him about that day. And even in
Hanna on her way to the cemetery. It It was July 1972 in Knoxville, mals, including Daisy, who was that conversation, Seth said, there
said that Mel wanted his animals to Tennessee, on part of his dad’s prop- taken to a local zoo instead of being was no hatred or resentment toward
be part of his funeral. When Norma erty known as Hanna’s Ark where put down. Hanna.
arrived at the cemetery, Hanna was he housed lions, tigers and a few He moved his family out of “I have never heard anyone in my
waiting with Mel’s two favorite other exotic animals — some that he Knoxville, where even people at family say one bad word about Jack
lions. helped raise for the Knoxville Zoo. the grocery store whispered about Hanna, ever,” Seth said. “My broth-
“Jack has always known how to It was licensed and not open to the his lion hurting a child. er’s legacy is being an inspiring,
put on a show,” said Norma, who public. Jack considered giving up his fun-loving guy who other people
still laughs about that day and still On this day, a mother and boy dream to become a zookeeper until wanted to be around. He never let his
appreciates that Suzi was at her who lived nearby stopped to see the a doctor close to the Hanna family life be defined by losing an arm. Hell,
home the day Mel died. “Mel would animals while Jack was away. visited. I’ve watched Jack Hanna’s show over
be so proud of what Jack has done Somehow, the boy made it through He told him his own story about the years. It was an accident.”
with the zoo, and more importantly, two barriers and reached toward the how years earlier, he had run over a
how he has connected the love lion. Daisy — Hanna’s favorite — bit young girl with his car, and he, too,
between those animals and people.” off the boy’s left arm. wanted life to be over following the For better or worse
When Hanna arrived to his prop- accident.
erty, Matthew Ramsbottom was “The doctor saved me with that Suzi says she accepted long ago
‘It was my fault’ lying on the ground, covered in a story,” Hanna said. that Jack has two wives — herself and
bloody sheet. State troopers were Matthew Ramsbottom, the boy the Columbus Zoo.
The crowd gathered between holes waiting for Hanna to retrieve the Hanna still thinks about today, died Their romance began at
at the Memorial Tournament in boy’s limb. in 2010 at age 41. Muskingum University, where the
Dublin have been baking in the hot Hanna climbed over the fence But the loss of his arm did not hold overweight country boy with big
sun just to get a glimpse of one of the and told Daisy to sit. The arm was him back in life, according to his glasses charmed the beautiful cheer-
world’s most famous people. still fully intact. Hanna handed it to younger brother Seth Ramsbottom, leader from New Jersey with his
But when iconic golfer Tiger paramedics. who lives in Knoxville. relentless sense of humor.
Woods crosses directly in front of Suzi and Jack went to the hos- Matthew inspired others his entire They married in 1968 after Jack
Jack Hanna, more heads turn toward pital that night to show the family life by playing soccer, football and had just graduated and Suzi had one
the man in khaki. their remorse for the accident. They racing mountain bikes with one semester left.
“Look, Mommy — Jungle Jack!” didn’t stay long and never got a arm, Seth said. He became a chef On their wedding night, Jack went
a boy exclaims. chance to see the boy. and moved to Wyoming to pursue out to get some burgers but ran into
The moment immediately takes Doctors couldn’t reattach the his outdoor passions, including college buddies and had beers until
Hanna back to a harrowing day in boy’s arm. The boy’s family filed a snowboarding. 2:30 a.m.

Jack Hanna signs autographs following the “Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild” show in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on April 28. [ADAM CAIRNS/DISPATCH]
“No one got pregnant that night,”
Jack laughs.
It only got worse over the next six
days, culminating with Suzi climb-
ing into the back seat of the car and
not speaking to her new husband for
hours, wondering whether she had
made a mistake.
Jack made things right. Their first
daughter, Kathaleen, 48, who now
lives in England with her husband
and two children, was born nine
months and nine days after their
wedding.
Next came Suzanne, 45, who now
lives in Cincinnati with her husband
and four children. And then came
Julie, who lives in Dublin.
Suzi never complained when Jack
would bring home a new lion, chim-
panzee, goat, dog or other animal.
She, too, would feed them and bathe
them just like any other member of
their family.
It is their bond over God, their
daughters and animals that always
connected the two.
It was Suzi who was in the stands
at every tennis match and football
game while the girls were cheer-
leading and growing up in Dublin
schools. Jack was working at the zoo
or on the road.
She never resented that. The
payoff for their sacrifices was unfor-
gettable trips around the world,
including many to see the mountain
gorillas in Rwanda. Suzi now also
joins Jack on his travels to film his
TV show as a co-host.
When they aren’t on the road they
split their time throughout the year
at the zoo, a condo in Florida and a
cabin in northwest Montana, where
they enjoy hiking in Glacier National
Park.
Suzi looked down at their wed-
ding picture, put her hand to her
heart and then burst out laughing.
Jack, she said, has come a long way
since that day — and the ensuing
Valentine’s Day, when he failed to
get her so much as a card.
“I’m sorry, Sue,” Jack said.
“Jack is my best friend, for better
or worse,” Suzi said. “I’ve been
blessed. Jack is a very caring, kind,
compassionate person. That cer-
tainly doesn’t mean we don’t have
disagreements.”
Suzi has proven she is Jack’s big-
gest fan and supporter.
She had seen the toll the latest
round of contract negotiations with
the zoo had taken on her husband a
couple of years ago. It had dragged
on for a long time, but she didn’t
think it would ever reach the point
where her family would consider
leaving Columbus — until now.
“Sue that’s it, we are out of here,”
Jack told his wife.
The dispute with a small group of
board members wasn’t about money
for Hanna. It was about feeling that
his years of devotion weren’t being
valued. Hanna said the biggest issue
was the board’s desire to place con-
ditions on how he could help other
zoos. Jack had always helped other
zoos.
There was one final meeting to
work things out, and Jack asked
Suzi to speak on his behalf. She was
hesitant to go, but delivered a speech
that helped changed their destiny.
Sue eloquently reminded those
in the room of all the relationships
that Jack had built through the years
and how much love and passion her
family had invested in the zoo.
But if they wanted to put restraints
on Jack they were prepared to move
on to whatever journey God had
planned for them.
After that meeting, things got
better.
Craig Marshall, chairman of the
Columbus Zoo Board of Directors,
didn’t comment on the details of
contract talks or potentially losing
Hanna, but said the board’s relation-
ship is strong and will remain that
way.
“The board’s respect for Jack
is deep and we are committed to
celebrating his legacy and honoring
what he has done in Columbus and
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
around the globe,” Marshall said.
“We have a unique partnership that
is allowing future generations to
enjoy these beautiful (animals) in the
days, months and years to come.”
For Jack, seeing his wife sup-
port him in that way was a defining
moment in what will be 50 years of
marriage this December.
“I’d be nothing without Sue,” Jack
said. “That speech is something I’ll
never forget. I wouldn’t have the life
and family I have or even function
to be honest. I still don’t know how I
got her.”
Love what you do
Jack hasn’t taken a bite of his
shrimp or a sip of his Corona at the
end of another 14-hour day. The
servers, hostess, manager, bus boys,
bartenders and patrons inside the
Ruby Tuesday in Scranton all want
a piece of the gracious but weary
Hanna.
His show in Wilkes-Barre that day
went well, drawing more than 1,000
people who were awed by the chee-
tah, fell in love with the penguin and
ogled several other animals travel-
ing with Hanna. But he, of course,
was the star attraction, signing
autographs for more than an hour
and encouraging them all to visit the
Columbus Zoo.
He is finally ready to take a bite
when a teary-eyed woman, the most
polite of anyone to approach him in
two days, says she wants nothing but
to thank him. Behind her, a teenage
boy in a wheelchair pushes himself
quickly around the corner and out of
sight.
It’s her son, who worships Hanna
and wants to be a zookeeper some-
day because of him.
Hanna’s dinner goes cold as he
finds the boy from Tennessee, talks
with him about animals for five
minutes and then texts someone
he knows to try to help him get an
internship at his local zoo.
Sunday, September 2, 2018 S11
After finally taking a couple
of bites, Hanna quietly goes back
into the restaurant kitchen to sign
autographs for the cooks.
“I never wanted the TV stuff or
this famous thing,” Hanna said. “I
try to treat everyone I meet in a way
that would make my dad proud.
‘Be humble, Jack,’ — that’s what he
would tell me.”
Hanna says that at times he can
be stubborn, demanding and some-
times a pain in the butt on the road,
in his office or at home.
He’s more than willing to talk
about his shortcomings.
He once picked up a fumble play-
ing high school football and ran to
the end zone — only to discover he
ran the wrong way and scored for the
other team.
When he and Suzi first moved to
Columbus and he was speaking at
an event, he overheard people at a
table next to him and Suzi question
whether the new zoo director and his
wife smelled bad.
It’s this folksy nature — part
showman, part aw-shucks small-
town guy — that has gotten him
invitations to the White House
and Buckingham Palace. One of his
favorite celebrity friends is actress
Betty White, an animal advocate.
She visited Hanna in the first year
he took over the Columbus Zoo and
they remain friends.
In 2014, just before the zoo opened
its Heart of Africa area, White
returned to Columbus. She sat alone
for a while and marveled at all the
African animals roaming the 43 acres
Hanna helped envision.
She cried and told Hanna that she
had now been to Africa.
“The zoo world and the animal
word at large are far better off for
having Jack in them,” said White,
now 96, in a written statement.
“And let’s face it ... he just keeps
getting better looking, so I hope he’s
around for a long, long time!”
Another person whom Hanna
considers a good friend is Jack
Nicklaus. He recently met up with
Nicklaus and his wife, Barbara,
at the Memorial Tournament and
they spent time sharing old stories.
Their favorite was the time Nicklaus
missed the cut at his own tourna-
ment and went to the zoo with his
family. A gorilla threw a pile of poop
into his chest.
There were lots of laughs until
Nicklaus turned serious.
“Think about all the good this guy
has done for the world,” Nicklaus
said.
Hanna has only two regrets —
missing the days he spent away from
his daughters when they were grow-
ing up and that his dad, Ross, who
died at 74, didn’t have a chance to
see his achievements.
When his time comes, Hanna
wants to be cremated and have his
ashes buried at the Columbus Zoo.
But until that day, Hanna will con-
tinue his relentless pursuit to follow
advice his dad gave him on that farm
in Tennessee.
“Love what you do and work
hard,’” Hanna said. “And I think I’ve
done that with my life.”
mwagner@dispatch.com,
@MikeWagner48
S12 Sunday, September 2, 2018 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Animal magnetism
Shane Gorbett and Jen Dew show off a serval cat’s jumping ability during the Wild Africa show. [ADAM CAIRNS/DISPATCH PHOTOS]
By Alissa Widman Neese
The Columbus Dispatch
T
he African wild cat leapt 10
feet in the air and effort-
lessly snatched its prey.
In the wild, it could have caught a
bird in tall savanna grasses.
But at the Columbus Zoo and
Aquarium’s Wild Africa stage, the
serval seized a feathered toy on the
end of a stick. The feat wasn’t any
less impressive, though.
The audience gasped. And
within minutes, a standing-room-only
crowd gathered on the humid July
afternoon to watch an educational
demonstration involving a variety
of zoo critters.
When the show ended, guests
had an opportunity to meet some of
the animals, including Nico, a blue-
throated macaw taking cash donations
in his beak for a tortoise conservation
program.
Five-year-old Corbin Kneisley, of
Washington Court House, didn’t leave
the stage’s edge until zoo employees
carted away the last animal, a snake he
Zoo’s furry, feathered ambassadors
bring need for conservation efforts to life
petted without flinching. His grand-
mother grinned in disbelief.
“He doesn’t even like snakes,” said
Tonya Pollock, 48.
While guests watched the animals,
Suzi Rapp, the zoo’s vice president of
animal programs, watched the people
and smiled.
Since its creation 30 years ago, the
animal programs department has
come a long way from being just one
of Jack Hanna’s pioneering visions
as the new zoo director. It’s now an
operation with 25 year-round employ-
ees and 188 animals representing 83
species.
They travel to Hanna’s TV programs
and public presentations, but also par-
ticipate in educational demonstrations
at the zoo, including the Wild Africa
show, new this year.
In the 1980s, it was just Rapp
lugging wildlife behind the scenes,
apologizing to hotel staff if an ornery
cheetah clawed expensive upholstery A baby cheetah sits in the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s promotions office.
or a penguin wandered into a hallway. The cheetah was one of three that vice president of animal programs Suzi
With 34 years at the zoo, she’s second Rapp rescued from Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas.
only to Hanna in years of experience.
“It started as a one-person show, and
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Sunday, September 2, 2018 S13
S14 Sunday, September 2, 2018 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
that one person was me,” Rapp joked.
The ambassador animals are differ-
ent than the animals in zoo exhibits.
They’re used, in interactive
ways, to teach audiences about ani-
mals in their wild habitats — typically
far-off places that most people will
never visit, Rapp said.
Intimately connecting people to
wildlife will inspire them to care and,
Hanna hopes, to do their part to help
conserve endangered species and
habitats, he said. He summarizes it
with the credo “touch the heart to
teach the mind.”
“You have to love something to save
something, it’s just how life is,” he said.
Taking it on the road
Today, ambassador animal programs
are common in zoos.
Members of the Association of
Zoos and Aquariums advisory group
have even crafted guidelines on which
animals to use, how to effectively
convey conservation messages and
how to keep presenters and animals
safe. The nonprofit group includes
more than 230 accredited members
in the United States, including the
Columbus Zoo.
Studies by association members,
as well as research happening at Ohio
State University, suggests ambas-
sador animal programs have many
benefits, including increasing the
amount of time people are engaged
with an animal presentation, how
much information is retained from
those sessions and how likely some-
one is to change their behavior to help
wildlife conservation.
Back when Hanna and Rapp started
the animal program in Columbus,
it was mostly uncharted territory.
There were no studies or guidelines.
Using live animals in presentations
was controversial to some, who
claimed the uncommon practice was
unsafe and exploited the creatures.
When Hanna became director in
1978, the mediocre Columbus Zoo was
failing to attract crowds. So he took the
animals to the people.
Decades later, the zoo is one of the
most well-attended in the coun-
try, according to self-reported data
from the Association of Zoos and
Aquariums. But its outreach with
ambassador animals continues for
those who, for a variety of reasons,
can’t make it to the front gate.
“Everybody thinks ‘everybody goes
to the zoo,’ but so many people have
never even seen one,” Hanna said.
He is the first to admit that seeing
an endangered cheetah in real life,
including the ones he brings to his
live presentations, is an entirely
different experience than seeing one
on his TV programs.
“Here I am, clobbering my own
show, but I don’t care, it’s true,”
Hanna said. “When I go to theaters
and show these animals, you should
hear the comments I get, you should
see the faces of the people in the audi-
ence: ‘Wow!’”
By taking animals on the road,
the Columbus Zoo now reaches
young children in schools, older
adults in senior living communi-
ties and everyone in between. Some
animals even make an appearance in
Washington D.C. every year at a
Congressional reception on Capitol
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium vice president of animal programs Suzi Rapp sits
with a trio of baby cheetahs. Jack Hanna credits Rapp with making the animal
ambassador program a success. [ADAM CAIRNS/DISPATCH]
Katie Costello shows off a ball python to Savana Snorradottir, left, and her son
Snorri Svanhildarson and daughter Elka Ellertsdottir during the Wild Africa show at
the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
Hill with the Association of Zoos and
Aquariums, a tradition that started
in 2001, said Steve Olson, the asso-
ciation’s senior vice president of
governmental affairs.
The zoo workers who attend aim to
educate legislators who make deci-
sions that impact zoos, aquariums,
wildlife and their native habitats,
Olson said.
In 2009, for example, Hanna,
Olson and others hoped ambassador
animals could help them lobby for
economic stimulus bill funds, which
zoos and aquariums were denied.
Sadly, it didn’t work, but the expe-
rience wasn’t a total loss, Olson said.
“We got a call from the White
House asking if we could bring the
baby cheetah down to see the Obama
girls,” Olson said. “It was such a great
opportunity for us. We were sitting
in the East Room, surrounded by
security, talking about cheetahs, con-
servation and everything else.”
Rapp estimates her staff hosts
about 3,000 events a year, includ-
ing some private ones. The service
isn’t advertised, but their schedule is
always filled through word of mouth.
Some encounters can be life-
changing, she said.
Sean Greene, an animal programs
employee at the Columbus Zoo in the
early 1990s and now the chief operat-
ing officer of the Dallas Zoo, said
he still thinks about one emotional
encounter.
An 8-year-old boy in Washington
Court House, about 40 miles south-
west of Columbus, was an aspiring
herpetologist but was terminally ill.
Greene brought a 10-foot Burmese
python to the boy’s home. His family
said it was the first time he had smiled
in weeks.
That inspired Greene to help create
similar animal programs in Dallas and
at other zoos where he worked after
leaving Columbus.
“Jack said, ‘This is what we do,
why we have these programs,’”
Greene said. “Without Jack setting
the example by having these kinds of
outreach programs, we wouldn’t be
able to continue affecting people like
that today.”
More harm than good?
Though ambassador animal pro-
grams are more widespread today,
that doesn’t mean they — or Hanna —
are without criticism.
Organizers for People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals,
for example, say Hanna’s antics
are harmful to animals and conserva-
tion efforts.
Bringing animals on TV shows
makes them more vulnerable to
illness and injury, causes stress
and exploits them, said Delcianna
Winders, vice president and deputy
general counsel for PETA, the
nation’s largest animal welfare group.
“There are misconceptions that,
despite harming individual animals,
this somehow helps conservation, but
there’s no evidence to show it,” she
said.
Others beg to differ. Researchers
at Ohio State’s newly created Center
for Human-Animal Interactions
Research and Education say the results
of their science-based studies on the
topic are promising. The Columbus
Zoo and The Wilds, a 10,000-acre
conservation center the zoo operates in
Cumberland, about 70 miles southeast
of Columbus, provided animals and
some settings for the studies. Others
took place at parks or Ohio State.
No matter the location, the pre-
senter, or what educational tools
were used, “a live animal still made
the difference,” said Kelly George,
an Ohio State assistant professor of
animal science.
“The zoo is quite courageous to
go down this road, because our gut
might anecdotally believe that’s the
case, but what’s the data say?” she
said.
So far, George said the data sug-
gests ambassador animals influence
behavior by helping people learn and
retain more information about a spe-
cies; encouraging them to post about
the experience on social media; and
increasing their willingness to donate
to a cause that would help the animal.
Expanding its reach
Hanna credits Rapp for making the
program what it is today.
“She was the first one who believed
in this,” Hanna said.
Now she’s sharing her experience
with others across the country, by
advising other zoos looking to start or
expand programs. It’s certainly differ-
ent than the early days, Hanna joked.
“First, we got criticized for it,” he
said. “Now, we all work together.”
The Columbus Zoo is also grow-
ing its own program. In 2020, it will
debut an expansion called Adventure
Cove, featuring a seals and sea lion
exhibit and a new Animal Encounters
Village for its ambassador animals.
Previously the village was housed in
a double-wide trailer at Jungle Jack’s
Landing, an amusement park at the
zoo. The experience was so popular
it’ll now have a permanent home,
Rapp said.
Though a lack of resources can
sometimes be an obstacle to creating
ambassador animal programs, most
zoos operate one, regardless of their
size, because officials now recognize
their importance to a conservation
mission, said Jacque Williamson, a
member of the Association of Zoos
and Aquariums’ advisory group for
ambassador animals.
Even the Brandywine Zoo has one,
said Williamson, its curator of educa-
tion. The small zoo in Delaware is just
5 acres, compared to the 588-acre
Columbus Zoo.
As zoos grow and plan for their
futures, providing guests with face-
to-face interactions and lasting
memories will be pivotal, Williamson
said. While ambassador animals
might not inspire everyone to become
a zookeeper, they might encourage
people to make more environmentally
responsible decisions, such as using
less plastic, composting or planting
trees.
“In this experience economy,
people don’t want to just see some-
thing, they want to do something,
post pictures of it online and tell
people about the amazing experience
they had,” Williamson said. “We
need people from all walks of life to
have those experiences.”
awidmanneese@dispatch.com,
@AlissaWidman
 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Sunday, September 2, 2018 S15

The camera loves him

Hanna’s TV appeal puts Columbus Zoo in national spotlight

ABOVE: Jack Hanna

By Ken Gordon watches an episode
The Columbus Dispatch of “Jack Hanna’s
Wild Countdown”

W
hen he cradled twin in a hotel lobby
baby gorillas in his during a trip to
arms on ABC’s “Good Scranton, Pa., for a
Morning America” show on show with several
Oct. 31, 1983, Columbus Zoo and animals from the
Aquarium director emeritus Columbus Zoo &
Jack Hanna could not have pre- Aquarium on April
dicted where that would lead. 28. Hanna says he
A producer for David has seen the show,
Letterman’s show saw the GMA which has been
segment and contacted Hanna a few on the air since
months later. 2011, just a few
One invitation led to another, times because of
and over the next 35 years, Hanna’s his travel schedule.
folksy charm and the often-chaotic [ADAM CAIRNS/
menagerie of animals he brought DISPATCH]
made him a national celebrity and
helped the zoo mushroom into a LEFT: Jack Hanna
world-renowned institution. smiles as an
“Good Morning America and David eagle ruffles
Letterman made us a national zoo,” David Letterman’s
Hanna said. “I can’t stand it when the feathers during a
newspapers say ‘celebrity.’ I’ve begged TV appearance in
them to say ‘animal ambassador’ 2014. [JOHN PAUL
instead of ‘celebrity.’ I would tell them FILO/CBS]
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Sunday, September 2, 2018 S17
S18 Sunday, September 2, 2018 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Out of
nothing W

The Wilds has grown into

nationally known animal
conservation center

Tafari the
giraffe pokes
his head in a
tour bus at
The Wilds in
Cumberland.
[ADAM CAIRNS /
DISPATCH]

The Wilds was the first institution to successfully use artificial insemination to Visitors to The Wilds get up close and personal with a one-horned Asian rhino.
breed Persian onagers, an endangered species of wild ass that has only 600 to [ADAM CAIRNS / DISPATCH]
700 animals left living in two protected areas in Iran. [ADAM CAIRNS / DISPATCH]
 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Sunday, September 2, 2018 S19

By Alissa Widman Neese actually seen the site A male cheetah surveys The center coordinates many
The Columbus Dispatch before. his enclosure at The programs aimed at conserv-
With fellow Wilds. [ADAM CAIRNS ing native species, including the

W
hen Dave Clawson first Muskingum / DISPATCH] Eastern hellbender salamander and
arrived at The Wilds nearly University the American burying beetle, both
30 years ago, he saw prom- students — federally endangered. And restora-
ise in the foliage taking root in the including tion ecologists are studying how well
10,000 acres of near-nothingness. Suzi, who entertain- native prairie grasses reclaim former
There were no animals roaming would ment, The mining sites; the plants are now
the pastures. There was no running eventually Wilds can being reintroduced into other dam-
water, phone line or electricity. become continue aged areas in southern Ohio.
Just a visitors’ building, a half- his wife — to pro- Students also regularly take
finished animal barn and a few fences Hanna rode vide cut- advantage of learning opportunities
stood on the land that was once bicycles by it ting-edge at The Wilds because of its proximity
strip-mined for coal in Cumberland, in the 1960s education, to Muskingum University, Hanna’s
about 75 miles east of Columbus. to observe the conservation alma mater, said its president Susan
But thanks to restoration efforts, world’s largest and research, Hasseler.
grass covered it again. Tiny trees, coal excavator, the Palfrey said. Colton Wilson, 20, a junior biology
their growth stunted by the dam- Big Muskie, tearing “It has to go hand- major, spent this summer continu-
aged soil, dotted rolling hills filled through barren earth that in-hand, to some extent, to ing ongoing research of rare birds
with roughly 150 lakes that had been resembled the surface of the moon. get people engaged,” she said. that are attracted to The Wilds’
carved into the terrain. A lot had changed since then. unique grasslands — including some
To Clawson, it was perfect. Planning for what would eventu- Herd mentality so elusive that people drive across
He envisioned herds of rare ani- ally become The Wilds began in the the country to see them. The stud-
mals someday roaming the wide 1970s. Officials envisioned it as a Once guests arrive at The Wilds, ies found that shrubs popping up
open spaces, replicating their natural partnership involving state agencies, there’s nothing more exciting than in the grasses were driving the bird
grassland habitats. zoos across the state and private teaching them about the conserva- populations away, so staff mem-
So in 1990, Clawson took a chance partners. The plan was to use the tion work happening in the safari bers are removing the unwanted
and left a job he loved, caring for space to breed and study rare zoo park’s pastures as well as behind plants.
the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s animals in large pastures resembling the scenes, said Jan Ramer, its vice Wilson, of Indian Lake in Logan
rhinos, elephants and other animals their natural habitats. president. County, couldn’t believe such a
under the leadership of zoo Director In 1984, the effort was formally “We do our piece in Ohio, but we dynamic research hub goes unno-
Jack Hanna. At that time, The Wilds incorporated as a nonprofit called also have a global impact,” she said. ticed by so many people in Ohio. He
was a nonprofit group operated the International Center for the Ramer took on the top job at The hadn’t visited until he started his
in partnership with several Ohio Preservation of Wild Animals Inc. Wilds in 2017 after two years as its internship, he said.
zoos, including Columbus. Clawson and received more than 9,100 acres director of conservation medicine “It’s massive, and unlike anything
became its first animal management donated from the Central Ohio Coal and staff veterinarian. Before that, I’ve ever really seen before,” Wilson
specialist, a title he still holds. Company, an American Electric she’d spent several years in Rwanda said.
“I’m kind of a dreamer, and Power Company subsidiary. working for Gorilla Doctors, a
once you’ve seen The Wilds, you The conservation center, even- team of veterinarians who provide Smart growth
understand it’s something totally tually dubbed The Wilds, didn’t lifesaving care to endangered wild
different,” Clawson, now 55, said. “It officially open for another 10 years. gorillas. As those working at The Wilds
just seemed like the thing to do.” Its first animals, Przewalski’s wild The Wilds is as close to the real look to the future, they hope to
Today, under the management of horses, an endangered species native thing as you can get, she said. continue spreading their message,
the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, to Asia, arrived in 1992. Two years In a herd, captive animals behave increasing their visitors and con-
The Wilds has grown into one of later, safari tours started. That same more naturally, Ramer said. serving wildlife. Hanna, though not
North America’s largest conser- year, Hanna became director emeri- The extra space means breed- involved much in the day-to-day
vation centers, with more than tus of the Columbus Zoo, to focus ing programs are less restricted. operations of the center, continues
500 animals representing 28 spe- more on his TV career and public She said some of The Wilds’ most to be one of its biggest champions,
cies, including some, such as Père appearances instead of the zoo’s impressive breeding successes Ramer said.
David’s deer, which are only alive in day-to-day operations. involve hoofed animals that, at first This year, The Wilds debuted
captivity. Breeding programs have Early on, the center faced some glance, might not look too out of the seven Straker Lake cabins and a
successfully reintroduced rare ani- challenges, especially financial ordinary. partnership with the Mighty Oaks
mals into the wild. Ecologists gauge trouble. The center, for example, was the Warrior Programs, a nonprofit
efforts to restore the area to its con- Eventually, the four involved Ohio first institution to successfully use group that hosts retreats there
dition before strip-mining, which is zoos and now-defunct Kings Island artificial insemination to breed during summer months for veterans
positively affecting the area’s native Wild Animal Habitat dropped out — Persian onagers, an endangered spe- with post-traumatic stress disorder.
species, such as insects, birds and leaving Columbus, which purchased cies of wild ass that has only 600 to The Wilds’ annual attendance has
bats. part of the nonprofit and became 700 wild animals left living in two grown to about 120,000 people.
The site in rural Ohio even inspires its manager in the early 2000s to protected areas in Iran. Animals A breeding program that reared the
Hanna, who has traveled the world. salvage it. such as the scimitar-horned oryx, only fifth-generation southern white
“Every time I visit, I just still can’t In recent years, new entertain- an antelope extinct in the wild since rhinos outside of Africa received the
get over what they’ve done,” Hanna ment offerings beyond safari tours, the 1970s, have been successfully Edward H. Bean Award’s top honors
said. “If I didn’t have a cabin in including zip-lining, lodging, horse- reintroduced into their habitats in from the national Association of
Montana, I promise you, it would be back riding, fishing and educational Chad, in part thanks to the work at Zoos and Aquariums last year.
at The Wilds. I’m a hyper person, but camps, have helped increase the The Wilds. The Père David’s deer is The association is a nonprofit
when I go there, I relax and become center’s revenue and the amount of another rare species at The Wilds group of more than 230 accredited
somebody else.” time that visitors stay. that is currently extinct in its habitat members in the United States and
It’s an approach happening at of China. abroad, including the Columbus Zoo
‘Garden of Eden’ conservation centers across the But a naturalistic environment and The Wilds.
country because most are facing can come with trade-offs, too. To As The Wilds continues to grow,
Hanna still recalls the first time he similar challenges, said Katy Palfrey, provide animals with extensive vet- Clawson said he expects it to retain
saw the site that was to become The CEO of Conservation Centers for erinary care, they must be sedated the same quaint charm it had when
Wilds. Species Survival, a nonprofit group and temporarily separated from he first saw it in 1990.
Shortly after Hanna became the founded in 2005 to help centers work their herds and social hierarchies, “There was a lot of vision and
Columbus Zoo’s director in 1978, together and thrive. The Wilds was a which can be difficult and risky. For speculation on what was happening
Robert Teater, director of the Ohio founding member of the group. example, a herd might not accept an out here at that time, both on-site
Department of Natural Resources at Such centers require a lot of land animal if it is separated for too long, and in the animal community,”
the time, offered Hanna a helicopter and subsequently aren’t usually close Ramer said. Clawson recalled. “There were some
ride. What he saw shocked him. to urban areas. They’re also not yet “You have to be more creative bumps along the road, but I’m not
“When I looked down, I almost fell as well-known as traditional zoos, and careful with your thinking,” she sure anyone knew it would be what it
out of the helicopter,” Hanna said. and typically don’t “toot their own said. is today.”
“I said, ‘This is the Garden of Eden. horns,” so luring guests can be a Exotic animals aren’t the only
They’re going to give this to us?’” challenge, Palfrey said. ones being studied at The Wilds, awidmanneese@dispatch.com
Eventually, Hanna realized he had By recognizing the value of either. @AlissaWidman
S20 Sunday, September 2, 2018 THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH