June 22, 2018 • 34 mins
This week, Robin is joined by San Antonio Zoo’s CEO and Executive Director, Tim Morrow. The two discuss the important conservation work that Zoo is doing to save species, and how San Antonio Zoo’s certification under the American Humane Conservation program verified their laudable efforts on behalf of animals.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Let's talk pets.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Welcome to Loving Animals. I'm your host, doctor Robin Ganser,
the CEO of American Umine, our country's first national humane organization.
This week, we're joined by a very special guest, Tim Morrow,
the CEO and Executive director of the San Antonio Zoo.
Tim is involved in conservation efforts both locally and nationally
to secure a future for wildlife, something I know you're
passionate about as well. After this quick break, we'll hear
(00:45):
from Tim about what we can do to help our
world's disappearing species. Don't go away, and thanks for tuning
in to this week's episode of Loving Animals.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
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Speaker 3 (02:30):
Hi, Welcome, you are listening to the Loving Animals with
Robin Ganzer. Thanks so much for joining us for this
week's episode. We're so excited about an opportunity to share
with you our love for animals and zoos and aquariums.
And today's special guest is my good friend, a rockstar
in the zoo and aquarium world. Tim Morrow, the CEO
(02:53):
and executive director of the San Antonio Zoo in San Antonio, Texas. Tim,
welcome today. How are you.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh, I'm doing great, and I'm so glad that you
are on because I love your work that you do
in San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
You have a.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Gorgeous facility, incredible animals under your stewardship and your care,
and I'm so proud that you are now American Humane
Certified in our American Humane Conservation program. So congratulations, thank you.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
The certification was definitely our highlight of twenty seventeen, especially
for a facility that's been here one hundred and three years,
really loved by it's community and people from all over
the state, all over the country, and all over the
world that come visit us. It just gives us another
level of credibility and it was a great honor to
be part of the program.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, I can tell you that it's a big deal
and it means that your facility, Tim, under your leadership
and that of your team, is indeed world class in
terms of the care and stewardship, and most importantly, the
humane treatment of animals was a robust rigorous third part
already audit that you passed with flying colors, and it's
(04:03):
a good day to celebrate for the zoo and San Antonio,
but importantly for the entire community of San Antonio. It's
really great to see a world class leader right there
in your hometown.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Yes, our community was very excited about it, and it
was after we got a lot of questions of what
did you have to do to get ready for this audit,
And really the answer was nothing. We just operate like
we always have operated, and having the animals at top
of mind and everything we do both here at the
zoo and in the wild and inspires us for our
mission and our vision. And so that process was for
us really simple, just having someone come in and put
(04:33):
third eyes on us and give us opinions and feedback.
And very glad that we passed with flying colors and
we're part of the program.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Well we are. We are thrilled to welcome you to
the Humane Conservation family, that's for sure. Well, Tim, let's
talk a little bit about the animals in your care.
I understand you might have had some new babies born
at the zoo.
Speaker 6 (04:55):
We have had some babies we have you know, it's
with the zoo with a large question of animals, we
often have birth so we celebrated many over the last year.
We've had otters, demandua's, some host stock and other great
ad dishes to our zoo and to mistimo crocodiles, so
some great and danger species work and then just excellent
(05:15):
husbandry across the zoo is bringing us these amazing babies
for our guests to come see and learn more about
these these animals that are in our care.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
That's wonderful. I love your crocodile exhibit. Can you share
paint a picture of what your crocodile exhibit is for
our listeners.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
Yeah. So, our vice president of Animal care is a
herpetologist by trade, so as you can imagine, we have
a heavy herpetological collection.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So I know I saw it firsthand.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
I have to tell you we have a couple of
places where we have crocodiles and alligators. One of the
benefits of the San Antonio Zoo is we sit on
top of an aquafer, the Edward's Aquifer, and we pump
well water up into the zoo and then it flows
through the zoo through a river system and then into
a uv plant. And then becomes what is known as
the San Antonio River or the Riverwalkers most people know.
(05:58):
So we're providing a majority of the well water to
the San Antonio riverwalk within the zoo. The benefit for
us for having that well is we have excellent quality
water that comes at a constant year round temperature of
about seventy eight degrees. So we have some these endangered
crocodiles like to miss them, who can live here year
round in the water. And we've proven with three clutches
(06:19):
now that we're a good breeding facility for these crocodiles
that is not working so well in other places. So
we have a river system, we have a lake in
the middle of the zoo that's also fed by the
spring water. And then of course when we have the
clutch of eggs, we bring those in and raise those
and we're learning more about those with each clutch that
we go through. And we had a record hash this
time with thirteen babies, and they're in our quarium building
(06:40):
thriving and actually I think some are going out to
other zoos this week to help that collection grow and
those animals thrive in the caravan.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Isn't that wonderful? So wonderful and with your expert toun.
I know that there was a number of other additions
in that collection, Tune, I particularly like that one building
where they're all just have such incredible educational displays too.
I learned a lot about the snakes in your Care,
and in fact, I was frightened when I saw the
snakes in your care. I love all animals, as you
(07:09):
know back the show this so is loving animals, but
those snakes give me a good mix of fear and
awe at the same time. Tell us a little bit
about the snakes in your care.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Sure again, another large collection and in front areas and
back area. Our team is very passionate about taking guest
visitors or you know, people that contact us that are
free of snakes and really turning them and explaining the
benefits of snakes and you know they're not going to
hurt you. You have to have a respect for snakes and
for nature. And so that building that those animals are
housed in was built in the forties during the WPA.
(07:42):
So it's a beautiful building with marble columns. It used
to be an outdoor building that had walls put on
it in the eighties to air conditioning and bring that
space a little more friendly for our guests. But we
have a very large snake collection as you can imagine,
like our crops and alligators, and do a lot of
breeding of endangered snakes as well behind the scenes and
then those can come out into the guest Storrea is
really teach people about those snakes, and of course we
(08:03):
live in South Texas, so we have a lot of
snakes in general and around our houses and our businesses
and where we play in nature. So really teaching our
local community about the importance of snakes and don't just
kill every snake you see and they serve a purpose,
and respect the snake. It's more afraid of you than
you are of it. Those messages are very important for
our local community, on top of the work we're doing
(08:24):
around the world to help somebody snakes from other regions.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I know you had a lot of venomous snakes there too.
Do you do a lot of teaching about the venomous snakes.
Tell us about some of your venomous ones in.
Speaker 6 (08:33):
The connect Yeah, we have many species of venemous snakes
and actually the San Antonio Zoo works with the local
hospital system often to provide anti venom if somebody is
bitten from a snake in the wild or a private
collection or another zoological facility here in our region, the
San Antonio Zoo with our expertise, and that is the
first ones that they usually call from the local hospitals.
So we have close contact with the hospitals in regards
(08:55):
to those snakes. So we have, you know, the proper
procedures in place for our staff and they do all
the work behind the scenes with the snakes for breeding
and collecting venom and things like that. But it's a
really great program for the entire community that the community
probably doesn't even realize is happening.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I'm sure they don't. But what a great jewel you
have right there in San Antonio, really helping to save lives. Yeah,
I think that's wonderful, Absolutely wonderful. Well, now we're going
to move beyond my fascination for crocodiles and snakes and
talk about your golden girls. I love your elephants, Tim,
tell us a lot about your elephants.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
Sure well. Actually, today is the one year anniversary that Nicole,
who came from Feld Entertainment, which is Ringing Brothers, came
to the San Antonio Zoo. So actually one year ago
today she came to be a companion for Lucky. So
Lucky has been here for since nineteen sixty two, an
Asian elephant, she's outlived her lifespan already by about ten years,
which is really a testament to the care that she's
gotten here at the San Antonio Zoo. And so we
(09:52):
had been searching for a companion for the last couple
of years. She's a very particular elephant, so she hasn't
always gotten along with everyone she's roommated with, so are
very diligent in finding the right companions for her. So
we met with Ringling over the course of a year
or two and they came out to visit Lucky and
said right away we know exactly who would do well
with her. And then the San Antonio Zoo, myself and
(10:13):
some other staff went down to their facility, visited their
elephants and their conservation center, and we brought in Nicole
around a year ago, and then a couple months later
we brought Nicole's best friend in, Karen and who when
we visited the Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida, which
had run by Feld. Karen and Nicole were inseparable, and
we didn't want to split those two up, but we
(10:35):
also didn't want to bring them both at the same
time and have Lucky be the odd one out, So
we brought them one at a time, and it's really
worked out well. They are the best of elephant friends
we could ever imagine. It's succeeded all of our expectations
and wishes and hopes, and they are thriving together and
hanging out together and swimming together and doing all the
things that we'd want to see a group of elephants
doing together. And our community has really been inspired by
(10:57):
those three ladies we affectionally called the Golden Girls.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I love it. I love it well. There's a YouTube
video that I think Tim went viral of those girls
talking described that great video of the Golden Girls.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
Yeah, we have a guest that literally comes to visits
the zoo every day and gets us amazing photos and
amazing videos. And she was just at the habitat one
morning watching the girls and they were all kind of
in different parts of the yards doing their own thing.
Lucky was searching for food, you know, we hie enrichment
food and snacks in the walls and things for them,
So Lucky was kind of just scavenging along the wall
(11:32):
and became real apparent that Nicole wanted to play, and
Nicole started kind of swinging her foot and tail towards
Lucky and trumpeting a little bit, and then Lucky turned around,
Nicole ran, and then Lucky ran after Nicole and then
are thumping and trumpeting and making all the noises you
want to hear from elephants, and the next thing you know,
you see Karen running into the video picture, and then
all three of them are just really sat there together
(11:53):
and played together and talked to each other for minutes,
four or five minutes probably. You know, we posted not
the whole video, but they're really vocal together, which is
really nice to hear. And of course you can hear
it across the zoo and across the park that we
sit in, which is a great sound.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I love that sound. And for those of you that
haven't had a chance to hear Elephant's trumpet, I tell
you it's amazing. And anyone even within driving distance of
the San Antonio Zoo, do make it on your summer
or fall VK list. It's a worthwhile trip to see
The Golden Girls and this incredible zoo. And I was
just reading Tim and this is I think significant. I
(12:29):
open a number. The San Antonio Zoo had an eighty
five million dollar impact on the San Antonio community and
economy in twenty sixteen. So when I think about zoos,
I think of the educational piece, the incredible conservation work
that you do, the you know, just the ability to
help keep species alive wheres we face the six mass extinction,
(12:51):
which we want to get into after a commercial break.
But I'm so impressed that your zoo had an eighty
five million dollar economic impact in the San Antonio community.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
That's stunning and it's a great message for us in
the community to garner more support for the things we
want to do in the future. You know, we're in
the midst of a master plan right now to really
develop out the rest of our zoo property, and we
want to become the biggest, the greatest zoo in the country,
and so we're working towards that and we hosted we
had a record year in attendance last year of over
one point two million people, an eighty five million dollar
(13:20):
impact to the community. We helped fill eighty nine thousand
hotel rooms over that year and supported six hundred ninety
six jobs, so not only the five hundred and fifty
employee that we have here at the zoo, but other
jobs of contractors and vendors that we use in the community.
So it really has a far reaching impact this zoo,
both locally and globally. As we do conservation work around
(13:40):
the world, we're also doing conservation work locally and helping
the local economy, which is it's a win for everybody.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
It's a win win win, and being that that you've
been certified as a humane conservation institution, it's also a
great big win for the animals. How many animals are
in your collection, Tim.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
We have a large collection in the thousands, a lot,
you know, in the typical fashion. We have thousands of fish,
We have you know, a thousand bats, and then we
are probably one of the largest bird collections in the country,
I would say one or two number one or two
with bird questions and do some amazing work in that
arena as well. Our her collection is big, and then
we're looking really to grow and we have some species
(14:19):
that we would like to do conservation work with and
have at the San antonio ze that our guests can
come see and connect with that we don't have yet.
So a lot of that's happening in the master planning
right now to really look at all the animals in
our care, Why do we have them in our care?
What conservation work are we doing with each of those,
and let's make sure we have a plan for each
species that we have here to help that species.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
That's great and friends, if you're not familiar with zoos
and aquariums in this country, more people visit zoos and
aquariums than all professional sports combined. That includes hockey, baseball, football,
add all of those up together, basketball and more people
visit zoos in aquariums. It's donning and I think that's
(14:58):
great because we're talking about some major crisis. He's facing
animals in our lives that we see in wildlife and
in conservation. We're going to be right back after a
very brief commercial break to visit with Tim Morrow, one
of the country's leading experts in Susan aquariums, really talking
about conservation efforts that he's doing, that he's leading locally
(15:19):
and internationally, and importantly the impact of the sixth mass
extinction will be right back with Tim Morrow, and after
this brief commercial.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Break, we'll be right back right after these messages. Stay tuned.
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Speaker 4 (17:20):
Welcome back to.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
This week's episode of Loving Animals with yours Julia Robin Gancert.
Our very special guest this week is Tim Morrow, the
CEO of the San Antonio Zoo, which we were just
talking about some of his very special collections of animals
at the San Antonio Zoo, and I thought it was
a fascinating number the economic impact of the zoo on
(17:42):
the San Antonio community eighty five million dollar impact in
twenty sixteen, which I think is just again stunning. What's
really important to talk about is we talk about loving animals.
Tim is your conservation wark how the San Antonio Zoo
is involved in so many conservation projects, including a Giraft
Conservation Foundation, the snow Leopard Trust, among so many others.
(18:05):
Can you share with us your vision for conservation around
the world.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Yes, and really we talk about it all the time.
We redefined our mission and our vision in the last year. Really,
our mission is a secure future for wildlife and it
starts at the zoo with the zoo visit. You know,
people come to us because it's fun, and then we
want to teach them about these animals in the wild
and then create that love for animals that we want
everyone to have. And then we take that and we
take the funds that we get by the people visiting us,
(18:30):
and we either lead fund or participate in conservation efforts
on nearly every continent. Right now, our conservation team, doctor
Fanoli and doctor Glusen Camp are in a cave in
China doing work there where there's a lot of species
that have not been identified and our team's working to
identify those species so that we can make sure those
they continue to live and thrive and we know what's
(18:51):
in those areas before there's an issue. And actually we
were featured in that team was featured in Newsweek just
this week on the discovery of a live species that
had not seen before. So we do work in China.
We call ourselves this little zoo in San Antonio, but
we do work in China, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico
(19:11):
right under our own feet here in the aerzos. So
that's that we're running the efforts on, not to mention
all the efforts that we support through groops like the
International Elephant Foundation who is doing elephant conservation in Asia
and Africa, and then all the animals efforts that we
help support through the funds that we raise at the
zoo with people visiting us.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Wow, that's just stunning, absolutely stunning. And when I think
about that too, and I love the fact that it's
the little zoo in San Antonio impacting animals across the world.
You know, people don't know about the sixth mass extinction. Tim,
can you share with our listeners what this is and
how this impacts wildlife all around the world.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
Yeah, we are in the midst of the biggest extinction
since the time of dinosaurs, and really this one is
being caused because of man so zoos and aquariums. It's
very important that we all are working on this together,
and if you take call the credited zoos in the
quiems in the country and put them together, it's probably
one of the largest conservation efforts on the planet. We've
had a really unique thing happened here in San Antonio
with the monarch butterfly, which is a good example of
(20:10):
this extinction. Is a lot of people don't know the
monarch butterflies in danger of going extinct, and we all
grew up with them everywhere and you kind of just
don't notice that they're not around as much as it
used to be. In our former mayor, Mayor Ivy Taylor
decided that San Antonio was going to make a stand
and try to stop the extinction of this species. The
San Antonios who have been doing monarch work for ten
plus years with tagging butterflies that travel down through San Antonio.
(20:33):
We're really a migration funnel right at the point of
when San Antonio where the butterflies come through on the
way to Mexico. So for ten years we've been tagging butterflies,
working with universities like Kansas State. When the butterflies get
to Mexico and breed, the wings are collected after the
butterflies pass away and those numbers are sent back so
we can really track and learn more about their migratory path.
But here in San Antonio, our mayor went all in
(20:54):
and with fish and wildlife and said, you have twenty
one criteria that cities can do, we are going to
do all twenty one of those things. So of course
the San Antonio Zoo is very excited. The University of
Texas and San Antonio is involved, our river authorities involved,
and really our entire community has banded together to work
on monarch conservation citywide. We've gone to every elementary school
in some of our districts and put in butterfly gardens.
(21:15):
The mayor had a butterfly garden at our house. We
had counsel people raising butterflies in our offices. So it's
been a really exciting time in San Antonio to see
the work of an entire city and a focus of
an entire city down with the conservation of a species.
And I tell the mayor, the former mayor all the time,
I don't think she realized what a big deal that
was and how excited we were about it. Because some
(21:35):
people may look at it and say well, it's not
an elephant or a rhino, it's not this mega species.
But to have a whole city focused on a species
and on extinction is a very big deal for us,
and especially a zoo whose conservation work is really working
on species that are not the megaspecies and things like that.
That this was very important to us and we're very
excited to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
That's a big wow. Way to go San Antonio, Way
to go to San Antonio Zoo, and a big shout
out to everyone out there. We're protecting the butterflies, the
monarch butterfly. Who would have thought, wow, it was raised
with monarch butterflies. Saw them all the time, and now
as I think about it, you're right, they're just not
out there. But I did see a lot when I
visited San Antonio. So it was great to see the
(22:16):
butterflies there.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
That yeah, for sure. And even down to our Texas
Department and Transportation has stopped mowing areas and letting areas
go back more natural and we're seeing milkweed plant it
around the city on intersections and things like that. So
I mean, it was an all in effort in this
region and it's nice and I hope that we hope
that it makes a big difference. And if you can
take that and multiply it more species, which we're losing
(22:38):
dozens of species across the planet daily, we can try
to stop some of this that's happening and save these
animals for future generations. We don't want to be the
generation that lost everything.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
You know what you just said. Species are dying out daily,
twelve plus a day. And I always use this as
an example when we're having our dinner table conversation tonight,
an hour or two over dinner, a species will be
gone on wiped off the face of this earth we're
having our dinner. And I think that's eye opening for
people when they hear that.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
Yeah, and it's really this list one is being caused
by man, and a lot of the conservation work we're
doing now is really focusing on the people in the
regions where we're doing work. So in the Amazon and
the Peruvian Jungles, we work with the tribes down there,
We've taught the We've brought in Japanese fish print artists
to teach the tribes how to do fish prints, so
the fish that they're catching for dinner in this biodiverse river.
(23:30):
They're now doing fish prints, rice paper like you would
see in Japan. And then the San Antonio Zoo acquire
a house in Peru. All these tribes take their goods
to the house and they sell them out of this
house and they ship them to the San Antonio Ze
We sell them send the proceeds back to the indigenous
people because what happens now is if they get sick,
have an illness go through their tribe, the loggers come
(23:50):
in and tell them we'll give you money if you
give us the rights to log your property or log
some of your property, and they have basically have no choice.
So we're really trying to prop the people up there
to have an investment or in vested interest in conserving
their environment. So that's been a great program for us
to help those indigenous tribes down there, and it's really
been interesting to watch over the last two years. Now
(24:11):
tribes that have had minimal to no contact with the
outside world are contacting the groups square working with saying
they want to be involved in that. So we're hoping
to be able to sustain those indigenous people done there
so they don't have to sell off their logging rights
and their rights and their mineral rights to their properties.
And they can and have a vested interest in that
property to maintain it and save it for us and
them and for future generations.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
It's fantastic. That's fantastic. I bet a lot of our
listeners had no idea what modern zoo leaders are facing today, right.
I mean, what you've just described is not just what
zoo directors did fifty forty thirty years ago. I mean
you're talking about a global footprint, serious challenges that are
facing our entire society today, broader international society, not just
(24:55):
our local hometown. It's pretty stunning, Tim. Then that brings
me to the question out in the world does one
grow up today to become a zoo, a zoo leader
such as you.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Well, my path was a total accident, so I'm not
sure anyone will ever.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Call my tell us your path.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
I love it.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
Yeah. I lived in San Antonio as a small child
and came to the zoo in second and third grade.
As a child the field trips with my family, and
then we really moved up to Dallas, and I grew
up in Dallas. After high school, my parents had moved
back to San Antonio, same neighborhood to be with all
their friends. A couple years later, I came back down
here to go to school, to the San Antonio College
and then the University of Texas and San Antonio. Well,
(25:31):
while I was going to school, I just started working
at theme parks in the summer, So typical summer job.
I came down. I was a lifeguard in the summer
aut of theme park. The next summer I went back.
I became a supervisor. The next summer, came back promoted again.
So I was there about four years at a park
called Fiesta, Texas. In nineteen ninety six, I got a
call from sea World out of the blue on my
home phone because this was before cell phone, and they
asked me to come run the water park at SeaWorld.
(25:53):
And at the time I thought SeaWorld was way too
far out. San Antonio was really grown since this time.
But again I had nothing to do in the summer,
so I said, okay, sure, I'll come run the water
park here. And that's where I really fell in love
with animal care and conservation. Was I came to a
SeaWorld as a water park operator, and then it's led
to my path now So my time at SeaWorld, I
did the water park, and then I got a little
more responsibility and I had the Bay of Play, our
(26:14):
big kit Child's area, and then I had the operations
of one of the shows, and then I had the
Budweiser Clysdale's and things like that. And then in nineteen
ninety nine I moved to Orlando to open Discovery Cove,
which is a dolphin swim resort with thousands of tropical
fish in the aviary where birds land on you. Are
a very immersive animal connection environment. And was really involved
in helping open design, open and build that park, which
(26:37):
was really a lot of fun, and that kind of
led me into the animal design work that I started
to do as I came back to SeaWorld San Antonio.
So I came back to SeaWorld San Antonio and had
the privilege of helping design Aquatica, which is a water
park with thousands of animals and it were really guess
connected with animals. In a water park. You can wade
with sting rays, a big aviary that birds land on you,
and you can interact with and tortoises, and then just
(26:59):
animal and bath on the pathway. So lots of animals
in that water park environment where people are kind of
enjoying a water park in this natural, beautiful scenery with animals.
And then before I left SeaWorld to come to the zoo,
I helped this Discovery Point, which is their Dolphin Interaction Pool.
It was really a big expansion for the dolphins at
that pool. It was an original pool built in nineteen
(27:21):
eighty eight, so it was really fun to build a bigger,
more enriching pool for those dolphins. So it's doing a
lot of capital projects at SeaWorld, and I had a
lot of different areas of responsibility from running concerts to operations,
to landscaping, to warehouses to pr to front gate you
pretty much anything you could do at SeaWorld, I did
it at some point or another, which gave me a
great background of experience in a lot of areas. And
(27:44):
then I think zoos, as they've changed and modernized, have
kind of been looking for that more of that sort
of person that is well versed, well rounded in lots
of different areas. And so a firm reached out to
me about the San Antonio Zoo job. And I loved
the zoo as a child and been is I have
an older child now, I was twenty two and I
brought him to the child and then I have some
(28:04):
a three and a five year old. So I've really
been the demo of this zoo three times and I
really thought I could make a positive impact on this zoo,
which would in turn make a positive impact on the
city that I love in the worldwide community of conservation,
So it's one of those jobs where people are like, oh,
I want to save the world when I grew up,
and like the people that work at zoos and aquiums
really are working to save the world. It's the world
(28:25):
of animals, but it's all affects humans and how we're
going to live in the future, you know, from pollinators
up to the elephants. So it's very important. But my
path was very strange, but I think I was meant
to be here, and I'm really enjoying my time here.
And we've really seen the community get reinvolved and fall
in love again with our zoo with record attendance and
it's been fun to watch. And then all of that
allows us to grow our conservation programs and things that
(28:47):
we're doing. So the more we do to enable our mission,
the more of the mission weren't able to do, so
it's been a very fun process.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Wow, you know, I think that's beautiful, Tim, and I
love the way that you know, you really have brought
it all the way around full circle back in San
Antonio and back doing what you love with the animals
and your past is wonderful and so commendable. You know,
I have to ask you, do you have a favorite
I'm sure you get this question all the time, probably
from the kiddos that are visiting your zoo today. Do
(29:15):
you have a favorite animal?
Speaker 6 (29:17):
I do literally get that question at least twice a week.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
I know you did people.
Speaker 6 (29:22):
I tell people it changes, it really changes all the time.
So it's been the elephants, and it's been the giraffe.
When we Bill opened our Savannah habitat to just you know,
we hadn't had drafts in several years, so to bring
those back and watch people just be in awe of
seeing a draft in person in real life and how
big they are and how tall they are and how
fast they're able to move and those kind of things.
And then recently we had lion cubs and then jaguar cubs,
(29:44):
so and now we have this gorgeous little Tamandua baby.
So it really changes all the time. And with the
diverse collections that zoos have, and specifically this zoo has
a very diverse question, it really does change all the time.
Of course, we love all the animals, but those favorites
change where I'm really expending more time at one place
or another, And it also sometimes depends on what we're
working all We're working right now on an incredible design
(30:05):
for an overhead jaguar catwalk that'll connect two big spaces
for the jaguars and take them down next to a
river where they can sit by the river. And so
that's a very exciting project for us, especially with our
two cubs that are coming up on being a year
old now that that's going to be a very fun
project for me. So I'm sure jaguars are going to
be my favorite for a while while we do that project,
and then in the future, whatever we decide to do
(30:26):
with our master plan that aligns with our mission and
our vision and our conservation efforts and these amazing animals
that we can bring to San Antonio for our guests
to see, that those will probably become my favorite. So
it really does change all the time.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I love it well, and I love your animals, and
I especially love those golden girls. They're quiet quite something,
and I encourage everyone to go and see that video. Tim.
How can more of our listeners learn more about what
you're doing at San Antonio Zoo.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
One of the best ways is to visit our website,
Essayzoo dot org, and you can see the conservation efforts
we're working on. You can see what the happenings are
at the zoo. We have a lot of we're really
doing more of you know, the old zoo that maybe
you and I went to or our parents went to
was kind of just the static, same zoo all the time.
We're really trying to create memorable, repeatable experiences here. So
we're doing more festivals and events, and a bigger Christmas
(31:14):
program and an expanded Halloween program now for the kids,
and celebrating animals in different ways, and so we're always
doing something that keeps us fresh, top of mind where
people are coming to visit us, because, like I say,
the more people that visit us, the more conservation work
we can do. So visiting our website essayz dot org
and then we are very active on social media. We're
probably one of the most active zoos in the country
on social media. So our Facebook page is Facebook, dot
(31:37):
com slash San Antonio Zoo, and that applies to Twitter
and Instagram and all the places that you can find
everyone these days. But we're very active out there talking,
telling our stories and also responding to guests questions good
or bad, because people have a lot of questions about zoos,
especially the younger generations, and the importance of zoos. So
really telling everyone what we've been talking about for the
last you know, twenty thirty minutes is critical to our
(31:59):
future to really tell people this is the purpose of
zoos in a quarians These days, it's not just the
menagerie collection of things to come look at like it
was of yesteryear. So it's very important for us to
be out there ahead of the curve and telling our story.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
That's beautiful, Tim Well, congratulations again on being certified by
the American Humane Conservation Program. You were the number twelfth
institution worldwide to be certified in our rigorous third party
assessment of zeus and aquariums around the world. That's quite
an achievement and I believe you were the first zoo
and the great state of Texas to be certified by
American Humane. So that's incredible. Kudos to you and congratulations
(32:35):
and all the great work.
Speaker 6 (32:37):
Well.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Please, listeners do go visit Tim's site and I also
encourage you to follow him on Twitter. Tim Morrow on
Twitter is a treat. I just learned recently that hippos
spend sixteen hours submerged in water, so thank you Tim
for that bit. I learned lots on your Twitter, so
thanks so much. I also learned a lot about the
San Antonio Spurs, so thank you for that too.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Supporting less you have it, one more championship, at least
one more.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
That's great. That's great. Well, Tim, thanks so much for
being our very special guest on today's show and sharing
your love for animals. We're so grateful.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
Thank you. Thank you for having me the honor to
be on and it's, like I said, honor to be
part of the American Humane certification program and we're very
proud of that.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Thank you, Dan, Thanks so much, and keep up the
great work for animals around the world. Friends, thank you
for joining us for such an important episode with this
current sixth mass extinction that we're experiencing in which twelve
plus species are dying out every day. It's more vital
than ever to work towards protecting the special creatures whom
we share the world with. To learn more about what
(33:40):
American Humaine is doing how we're helping to conserve and
protect species, please visit www dot Humane Conservation dot org.
Across the world and here at home. We're loving animals,
and I know you are too. Thanks for tuning in.
We'll see you next week here on Loving Animals with
me doctor Robin gancer
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Let's talk bets every week on them and only on
petlifradio dot com.
This is Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Let's talk pets.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Welcome to Loving Animals. I'm your host, doctor Robin Ganser,
the CEO of American Umine, our country's first national humane organization.
This week, we're joined by a very special guest, Tim Morrow,
the CEO and Executive director of the San Antonio Zoo.
Tim is involved in conservation efforts both locally and nationally
to secure a future for wildlife, something I know you're
passionate about as well. After this quick break, we'll hear
(00:45):
from Tim about what we can do to help our
world's disappearing species. Don't go away, and thanks for tuning
in to this week's episode of Loving Animals.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We'll be right back.
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Speaker 3 (02:30):
Hi, Welcome, you are listening to the Loving Animals with
Robin Ganzer. Thanks so much for joining us for this
week's episode. We're so excited about an opportunity to share
with you our love for animals and zoos and aquariums.
And today's special guest is my good friend, a rockstar
in the zoo and aquarium world. Tim Morrow, the CEO
(02:53):
and executive director of the San Antonio Zoo in San Antonio, Texas. Tim,
welcome today. How are you.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh, I'm doing great, and I'm so glad that you
are on because I love your work that you do
in San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
You have a.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Gorgeous facility, incredible animals under your stewardship and your care,
and I'm so proud that you are now American Humane
Certified in our American Humane Conservation program. So congratulations, thank you.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
The certification was definitely our highlight of twenty seventeen, especially
for a facility that's been here one hundred and three years,
really loved by it's community and people from all over
the state, all over the country, and all over the
world that come visit us. It just gives us another
level of credibility and it was a great honor to
be part of the program.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, I can tell you that it's a big deal
and it means that your facility, Tim, under your leadership
and that of your team, is indeed world class in
terms of the care and stewardship, and most importantly, the
humane treatment of animals was a robust rigorous third part
already audit that you passed with flying colors, and it's
(04:03):
a good day to celebrate for the zoo and San Antonio,
but importantly for the entire community of San Antonio. It's
really great to see a world class leader right there
in your hometown.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Yes, our community was very excited about it, and it
was after we got a lot of questions of what
did you have to do to get ready for this audit,
And really the answer was nothing. We just operate like
we always have operated, and having the animals at top
of mind and everything we do both here at the
zoo and in the wild and inspires us for our
mission and our vision. And so that process was for
us really simple, just having someone come in and put
(04:33):
third eyes on us and give us opinions and feedback.
And very glad that we passed with flying colors and
we're part of the program.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Well we are. We are thrilled to welcome you to
the Humane Conservation family, that's for sure. Well, Tim, let's
talk a little bit about the animals in your care.
I understand you might have had some new babies born
at the zoo.
Speaker 6 (04:55):
We have had some babies we have you know, it's
with the zoo with a large question of animals, we
often have birth so we celebrated many over the last year.
We've had otters, demandua's, some host stock and other great
ad dishes to our zoo and to mistimo crocodiles, so
some great and danger species work and then just excellent
(05:15):
husbandry across the zoo is bringing us these amazing babies
for our guests to come see and learn more about
these these animals that are in our care.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
That's wonderful. I love your crocodile exhibit. Can you share
paint a picture of what your crocodile exhibit is for
our listeners.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
Yeah. So, our vice president of Animal care is a
herpetologist by trade, so as you can imagine, we have
a heavy herpetological collection.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So I know I saw it firsthand.
Speaker 6 (05:37):
I have to tell you we have a couple of
places where we have crocodiles and alligators. One of the
benefits of the San Antonio Zoo is we sit on
top of an aquafer, the Edward's Aquifer, and we pump
well water up into the zoo and then it flows
through the zoo through a river system and then into
a uv plant. And then becomes what is known as
the San Antonio River or the Riverwalkers most people know.
(05:58):
So we're providing a majority of the well water to
the San Antonio riverwalk within the zoo. The benefit for
us for having that well is we have excellent quality
water that comes at a constant year round temperature of
about seventy eight degrees. So we have some these endangered
crocodiles like to miss them, who can live here year
round in the water. And we've proven with three clutches
(06:19):
now that we're a good breeding facility for these crocodiles
that is not working so well in other places. So
we have a river system, we have a lake in
the middle of the zoo that's also fed by the
spring water. And then of course when we have the
clutch of eggs, we bring those in and raise those
and we're learning more about those with each clutch that
we go through. And we had a record hash this
time with thirteen babies, and they're in our quarium building
(06:40):
thriving and actually I think some are going out to
other zoos this week to help that collection grow and
those animals thrive in the caravan.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Isn't that wonderful? So wonderful and with your expert toun.
I know that there was a number of other additions
in that collection, Tune, I particularly like that one building
where they're all just have such incredible educational displays too.
I learned a lot about the snakes in your Care,
and in fact, I was frightened when I saw the
snakes in your care. I love all animals, as you
(07:09):
know back the show this so is loving animals, but
those snakes give me a good mix of fear and
awe at the same time. Tell us a little bit
about the snakes in your care.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Sure again, another large collection and in front areas and
back area. Our team is very passionate about taking guest
visitors or you know, people that contact us that are
free of snakes and really turning them and explaining the
benefits of snakes and you know they're not going to
hurt you. You have to have a respect for snakes and
for nature. And so that building that those animals are
housed in was built in the forties during the WPA.
(07:42):
So it's a beautiful building with marble columns. It used
to be an outdoor building that had walls put on
it in the eighties to air conditioning and bring that
space a little more friendly for our guests. But we
have a very large snake collection as you can imagine,
like our crops and alligators, and do a lot of
breeding of endangered snakes as well behind the scenes and
then those can come out into the guest Storrea is
really teach people about those snakes, and of course we
(08:03):
live in South Texas, so we have a lot of
snakes in general and around our houses and our businesses
and where we play in nature. So really teaching our
local community about the importance of snakes and don't just
kill every snake you see and they serve a purpose,
and respect the snake. It's more afraid of you than
you are of it. Those messages are very important for
our local community, on top of the work we're doing
(08:24):
around the world to help somebody snakes from other regions.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I know you had a lot of venomous snakes there too.
Do you do a lot of teaching about the venomous snakes.
Tell us about some of your venomous ones in.
Speaker 6 (08:33):
The connect Yeah, we have many species of venemous snakes
and actually the San Antonio Zoo works with the local
hospital system often to provide anti venom if somebody is
bitten from a snake in the wild or a private
collection or another zoological facility here in our region, the
San Antonio Zoo with our expertise, and that is the
first ones that they usually call from the local hospitals.
So we have close contact with the hospitals in regards
(08:55):
to those snakes. So we have, you know, the proper
procedures in place for our staff and they do all
the work behind the scenes with the snakes for breeding
and collecting venom and things like that. But it's a
really great program for the entire community that the community
probably doesn't even realize is happening.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I'm sure they don't. But what a great jewel you
have right there in San Antonio, really helping to save lives. Yeah,
I think that's wonderful, Absolutely wonderful. Well, now we're going
to move beyond my fascination for crocodiles and snakes and
talk about your golden girls. I love your elephants, Tim,
tell us a lot about your elephants.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
Sure well. Actually, today is the one year anniversary that Nicole,
who came from Feld Entertainment, which is Ringing Brothers, came
to the San Antonio Zoo. So actually one year ago
today she came to be a companion for Lucky. So
Lucky has been here for since nineteen sixty two, an
Asian elephant, she's outlived her lifespan already by about ten years,
which is really a testament to the care that she's
gotten here at the San Antonio Zoo. And so we
(09:52):
had been searching for a companion for the last couple
of years. She's a very particular elephant, so she hasn't
always gotten along with everyone she's roommated with, so are
very diligent in finding the right companions for her. So
we met with Ringling over the course of a year
or two and they came out to visit Lucky and
said right away we know exactly who would do well
with her. And then the San Antonio Zoo, myself and
(10:13):
some other staff went down to their facility, visited their
elephants and their conservation center, and we brought in Nicole
around a year ago, and then a couple months later
we brought Nicole's best friend in, Karen and who when
we visited the Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida, which
had run by Feld. Karen and Nicole were inseparable, and
we didn't want to split those two up, but we
(10:35):
also didn't want to bring them both at the same
time and have Lucky be the odd one out, So
we brought them one at a time, and it's really
worked out well. They are the best of elephant friends
we could ever imagine. It's succeeded all of our expectations
and wishes and hopes, and they are thriving together and
hanging out together and swimming together and doing all the
things that we'd want to see a group of elephants
doing together. And our community has really been inspired by
(10:57):
those three ladies we affectionally called the Golden Girls.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I love it. I love it well. There's a YouTube
video that I think Tim went viral of those girls
talking described that great video of the Golden Girls.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
Yeah, we have a guest that literally comes to visits
the zoo every day and gets us amazing photos and
amazing videos. And she was just at the habitat one
morning watching the girls and they were all kind of
in different parts of the yards doing their own thing.
Lucky was searching for food, you know, we hie enrichment
food and snacks in the walls and things for them,
So Lucky was kind of just scavenging along the wall
(11:32):
and became real apparent that Nicole wanted to play, and
Nicole started kind of swinging her foot and tail towards
Lucky and trumpeting a little bit, and then Lucky turned around,
Nicole ran, and then Lucky ran after Nicole and then
are thumping and trumpeting and making all the noises you
want to hear from elephants, and the next thing you know,
you see Karen running into the video picture, and then
all three of them are just really sat there together
(11:53):
and played together and talked to each other for minutes,
four or five minutes probably. You know, we posted not
the whole video, but they're really vocal together, which is
really nice to hear. And of course you can hear
it across the zoo and across the park that we
sit in, which is a great sound.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I love that sound. And for those of you that
haven't had a chance to hear Elephant's trumpet, I tell
you it's amazing. And anyone even within driving distance of
the San Antonio Zoo, do make it on your summer
or fall VK list. It's a worthwhile trip to see
The Golden Girls and this incredible zoo. And I was
just reading Tim and this is I think significant. I
(12:29):
open a number. The San Antonio Zoo had an eighty
five million dollar impact on the San Antonio community and
economy in twenty sixteen. So when I think about zoos,
I think of the educational piece, the incredible conservation work
that you do, the you know, just the ability to
help keep species alive wheres we face the six mass extinction,
(12:51):
which we want to get into after a commercial break.
But I'm so impressed that your zoo had an eighty
five million dollar economic impact in the San Antonio community.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
That's stunning and it's a great message for us in
the community to garner more support for the things we
want to do in the future. You know, we're in
the midst of a master plan right now to really
develop out the rest of our zoo property, and we
want to become the biggest, the greatest zoo in the country,
and so we're working towards that and we hosted we
had a record year in attendance last year of over
one point two million people, an eighty five million dollar
(13:20):
impact to the community. We helped fill eighty nine thousand
hotel rooms over that year and supported six hundred ninety
six jobs, so not only the five hundred and fifty
employee that we have here at the zoo, but other
jobs of contractors and vendors that we use in the community.
So it really has a far reaching impact this zoo,
both locally and globally. As we do conservation work around
(13:40):
the world, we're also doing conservation work locally and helping
the local economy, which is it's a win for everybody.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
It's a win win win, and being that that you've
been certified as a humane conservation institution, it's also a
great big win for the animals. How many animals are
in your collection, Tim.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
We have a large collection in the thousands, a lot,
you know, in the typical fashion. We have thousands of fish,
We have you know, a thousand bats, and then we
are probably one of the largest bird collections in the country,
I would say one or two number one or two
with bird questions and do some amazing work in that
arena as well. Our her collection is big, and then
we're looking really to grow and we have some species
(14:19):
that we would like to do conservation work with and
have at the San antonio ze that our guests can
come see and connect with that we don't have yet.
So a lot of that's happening in the master planning
right now to really look at all the animals in
our care, Why do we have them in our care?
What conservation work are we doing with each of those,
and let's make sure we have a plan for each
species that we have here to help that species.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
That's great and friends, if you're not familiar with zoos
and aquariums in this country, more people visit zoos and
aquariums than all professional sports combined. That includes hockey, baseball, football,
add all of those up together, basketball and more people
visit zoos in aquariums. It's donning and I think that's
(14:58):
great because we're talking about some major crisis. He's facing
animals in our lives that we see in wildlife and
in conservation. We're going to be right back after a
very brief commercial break to visit with Tim Morrow, one
of the country's leading experts in Susan aquariums, really talking
about conservation efforts that he's doing, that he's leading locally
(15:19):
and internationally, and importantly the impact of the sixth mass
extinction will be right back with Tim Morrow, and after
this brief commercial.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Break, we'll be right back right after these messages. Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
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Life Radio Headline Radio, petlfradio dot com.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Welcome back to.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
This week's episode of Loving Animals with yours Julia Robin Gancert.
Our very special guest this week is Tim Morrow, the
CEO of the San Antonio Zoo, which we were just
talking about some of his very special collections of animals
at the San Antonio Zoo, and I thought it was
a fascinating number the economic impact of the zoo on
(17:42):
the San Antonio community eighty five million dollar impact in
twenty sixteen, which I think is just again stunning. What's
really important to talk about is we talk about loving animals.
Tim is your conservation wark how the San Antonio Zoo
is involved in so many conservation projects, including a Giraft
Conservation Foundation, the snow Leopard Trust, among so many others.
(18:05):
Can you share with us your vision for conservation around
the world.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
Yes, and really we talk about it all the time.
We redefined our mission and our vision in the last year. Really,
our mission is a secure future for wildlife and it
starts at the zoo with the zoo visit. You know,
people come to us because it's fun, and then we
want to teach them about these animals in the wild
and then create that love for animals that we want
everyone to have. And then we take that and we
take the funds that we get by the people visiting us,
(18:30):
and we either lead fund or participate in conservation efforts
on nearly every continent. Right now, our conservation team, doctor
Fanoli and doctor Glusen Camp are in a cave in
China doing work there where there's a lot of species
that have not been identified and our team's working to
identify those species so that we can make sure those
they continue to live and thrive and we know what's
(18:51):
in those areas before there's an issue. And actually we
were featured in that team was featured in Newsweek just
this week on the discovery of a live species that
had not seen before. So we do work in China.
We call ourselves this little zoo in San Antonio, but
we do work in China, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico
(19:11):
right under our own feet here in the aerzos. So
that's that we're running the efforts on, not to mention
all the efforts that we support through groops like the
International Elephant Foundation who is doing elephant conservation in Asia
and Africa, and then all the animals efforts that we
help support through the funds that we raise at the
zoo with people visiting us.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Wow, that's just stunning, absolutely stunning. And when I think
about that too, and I love the fact that it's
the little zoo in San Antonio impacting animals across the world.
You know, people don't know about the sixth mass extinction. Tim,
can you share with our listeners what this is and
how this impacts wildlife all around the world.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
Yeah, we are in the midst of the biggest extinction
since the time of dinosaurs, and really this one is
being caused because of man so zoos and aquariums. It's
very important that we all are working on this together,
and if you take call the credited zoos in the
quiems in the country and put them together, it's probably
one of the largest conservation efforts on the planet. We've
had a really unique thing happened here in San Antonio
with the monarch butterfly, which is a good example of
(20:10):
this extinction. Is a lot of people don't know the
monarch butterflies in danger of going extinct, and we all
grew up with them everywhere and you kind of just
don't notice that they're not around as much as it
used to be. In our former mayor, Mayor Ivy Taylor
decided that San Antonio was going to make a stand
and try to stop the extinction of this species. The
San Antonios who have been doing monarch work for ten
plus years with tagging butterflies that travel down through San Antonio.
(20:33):
We're really a migration funnel right at the point of
when San Antonio where the butterflies come through on the
way to Mexico. So for ten years we've been tagging butterflies,
working with universities like Kansas State. When the butterflies get
to Mexico and breed, the wings are collected after the
butterflies pass away and those numbers are sent back so
we can really track and learn more about their migratory path.
But here in San Antonio, our mayor went all in
(20:54):
and with fish and wildlife and said, you have twenty
one criteria that cities can do, we are going to
do all twenty one of those things. So of course
the San Antonio Zoo is very excited. The University of
Texas and San Antonio is involved, our river authorities involved,
and really our entire community has banded together to work
on monarch conservation citywide. We've gone to every elementary school
in some of our districts and put in butterfly gardens.
(21:15):
The mayor had a butterfly garden at our house. We
had counsel people raising butterflies in our offices. So it's
been a really exciting time in San Antonio to see
the work of an entire city and a focus of
an entire city down with the conservation of a species.
And I tell the mayor, the former mayor all the time,
I don't think she realized what a big deal that
was and how excited we were about it. Because some
(21:35):
people may look at it and say well, it's not
an elephant or a rhino, it's not this mega species.
But to have a whole city focused on a species
and on extinction is a very big deal for us,
and especially a zoo whose conservation work is really working
on species that are not the megaspecies and things like that.
That this was very important to us and we're very
excited to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
That's a big wow. Way to go San Antonio, Way
to go to San Antonio Zoo, and a big shout
out to everyone out there. We're protecting the butterflies, the
monarch butterfly. Who would have thought, wow, it was raised
with monarch butterflies. Saw them all the time, and now
as I think about it, you're right, they're just not
out there. But I did see a lot when I
visited San Antonio. So it was great to see the
(22:16):
butterflies there.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
That yeah, for sure. And even down to our Texas
Department and Transportation has stopped mowing areas and letting areas
go back more natural and we're seeing milkweed plant it
around the city on intersections and things like that. So
I mean, it was an all in effort in this
region and it's nice and I hope that we hope
that it makes a big difference. And if you can
take that and multiply it more species, which we're losing
(22:38):
dozens of species across the planet daily, we can try
to stop some of this that's happening and save these
animals for future generations. We don't want to be the
generation that lost everything.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
You know what you just said. Species are dying out daily,
twelve plus a day. And I always use this as
an example when we're having our dinner table conversation tonight,
an hour or two over dinner, a species will be
gone on wiped off the face of this earth we're
having our dinner. And I think that's eye opening for
people when they hear that.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
Yeah, and it's really this list one is being caused
by man, and a lot of the conservation work we're
doing now is really focusing on the people in the
regions where we're doing work. So in the Amazon and
the Peruvian Jungles, we work with the tribes down there,
We've taught the We've brought in Japanese fish print artists
to teach the tribes how to do fish prints, so
the fish that they're catching for dinner in this biodiverse river.
(23:30):
They're now doing fish prints, rice paper like you would
see in Japan. And then the San Antonio Zoo acquire
a house in Peru. All these tribes take their goods
to the house and they sell them out of this
house and they ship them to the San Antonio Ze
We sell them send the proceeds back to the indigenous
people because what happens now is if they get sick,
have an illness go through their tribe, the loggers come
(23:50):
in and tell them we'll give you money if you
give us the rights to log your property or log
some of your property, and they have basically have no choice.
So we're really trying to prop the people up there
to have an investment or in vested interest in conserving
their environment. So that's been a great program for us
to help those indigenous tribes down there, and it's really
been interesting to watch over the last two years. Now
(24:11):
tribes that have had minimal to no contact with the
outside world are contacting the groups square working with saying
they want to be involved in that. So we're hoping
to be able to sustain those indigenous people done there
so they don't have to sell off their logging rights
and their rights and their mineral rights to their properties.
And they can and have a vested interest in that
property to maintain it and save it for us and
them and for future generations.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
It's fantastic. That's fantastic. I bet a lot of our
listeners had no idea what modern zoo leaders are facing today, right.
I mean, what you've just described is not just what
zoo directors did fifty forty thirty years ago. I mean
you're talking about a global footprint, serious challenges that are
facing our entire society today, broader international society, not just
(24:55):
our local hometown. It's pretty stunning, Tim. Then that brings
me to the question out in the world does one
grow up today to become a zoo, a zoo leader
such as you.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Well, my path was a total accident, so I'm not
sure anyone will ever.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Call my tell us your path.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
I love it.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
Yeah. I lived in San Antonio as a small child
and came to the zoo in second and third grade.
As a child the field trips with my family, and
then we really moved up to Dallas, and I grew
up in Dallas. After high school, my parents had moved
back to San Antonio, same neighborhood to be with all
their friends. A couple years later, I came back down
here to go to school, to the San Antonio College
and then the University of Texas and San Antonio. Well,
(25:31):
while I was going to school, I just started working
at theme parks in the summer, So typical summer job.
I came down. I was a lifeguard in the summer
aut of theme park. The next summer I went back.
I became a supervisor. The next summer, came back promoted again.
So I was there about four years at a park
called Fiesta, Texas. In nineteen ninety six, I got a
call from sea World out of the blue on my
home phone because this was before cell phone, and they
asked me to come run the water park at SeaWorld.
(25:53):
And at the time I thought SeaWorld was way too
far out. San Antonio was really grown since this time.
But again I had nothing to do in the summer,
so I said, okay, sure, I'll come run the water
park here. And that's where I really fell in love
with animal care and conservation. Was I came to a
SeaWorld as a water park operator, and then it's led
to my path now So my time at SeaWorld, I
did the water park, and then I got a little
more responsibility and I had the Bay of Play, our
(26:14):
big kit Child's area, and then I had the operations
of one of the shows, and then I had the
Budweiser Clysdale's and things like that. And then in nineteen
ninety nine I moved to Orlando to open Discovery Cove,
which is a dolphin swim resort with thousands of tropical
fish in the aviary where birds land on you. Are
a very immersive animal connection environment. And was really involved
in helping open design, open and build that park, which
(26:37):
was really a lot of fun, and that kind of
led me into the animal design work that I started
to do as I came back to SeaWorld San Antonio.
So I came back to SeaWorld San Antonio and had
the privilege of helping design Aquatica, which is a water
park with thousands of animals and it were really guess
connected with animals. In a water park. You can wade
with sting rays, a big aviary that birds land on you,
and you can interact with and tortoises, and then just
(26:59):
animal and bath on the pathway. So lots of animals
in that water park environment where people are kind of
enjoying a water park in this natural, beautiful scenery with animals.
And then before I left SeaWorld to come to the zoo,
I helped this Discovery Point, which is their Dolphin Interaction Pool.
It was really a big expansion for the dolphins at
that pool. It was an original pool built in nineteen
(27:21):
eighty eight, so it was really fun to build a bigger,
more enriching pool for those dolphins. So it's doing a
lot of capital projects at SeaWorld, and I had a
lot of different areas of responsibility from running concerts to operations,
to landscaping, to warehouses to pr to front gate you
pretty much anything you could do at SeaWorld, I did
it at some point or another, which gave me a
great background of experience in a lot of areas. And
(27:44):
then I think zoos, as they've changed and modernized, have
kind of been looking for that more of that sort
of person that is well versed, well rounded in lots
of different areas. And so a firm reached out to
me about the San Antonio Zoo job. And I loved
the zoo as a child and been is I have
an older child now, I was twenty two and I
brought him to the child and then I have some
(28:04):
a three and a five year old. So I've really
been the demo of this zoo three times and I
really thought I could make a positive impact on this zoo,
which would in turn make a positive impact on the
city that I love in the worldwide community of conservation,
So it's one of those jobs where people are like, oh,
I want to save the world when I grew up,
and like the people that work at zoos and aquiums
really are working to save the world. It's the world
(28:25):
of animals, but it's all affects humans and how we're
going to live in the future, you know, from pollinators
up to the elephants. So it's very important. But my
path was very strange, but I think I was meant
to be here, and I'm really enjoying my time here.
And we've really seen the community get reinvolved and fall
in love again with our zoo with record attendance and
it's been fun to watch. And then all of that
allows us to grow our conservation programs and things that
(28:47):
we're doing. So the more we do to enable our mission,
the more of the mission weren't able to do, so
it's been a very fun process.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Wow, you know, I think that's beautiful, Tim, and I
love the way that you know, you really have brought
it all the way around full circle back in San
Antonio and back doing what you love with the animals
and your past is wonderful and so commendable. You know,
I have to ask you, do you have a favorite
I'm sure you get this question all the time, probably
from the kiddos that are visiting your zoo today. Do
(29:15):
you have a favorite animal?
Speaker 6 (29:17):
I do literally get that question at least twice a week.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
I know you did people.
Speaker 6 (29:22):
I tell people it changes, it really changes all the time.
So it's been the elephants, and it's been the giraffe.
When we Bill opened our Savannah habitat to just you know,
we hadn't had drafts in several years, so to bring
those back and watch people just be in awe of
seeing a draft in person in real life and how
big they are and how tall they are and how
fast they're able to move and those kind of things.
And then recently we had lion cubs and then jaguar cubs,
(29:44):
so and now we have this gorgeous little Tamandua baby.
So it really changes all the time. And with the
diverse collections that zoos have, and specifically this zoo has
a very diverse question, it really does change all the time.
Of course, we love all the animals, but those favorites
change where I'm really expending more time at one place
or another, And it also sometimes depends on what we're
working all We're working right now on an incredible design
(30:05):
for an overhead jaguar catwalk that'll connect two big spaces
for the jaguars and take them down next to a
river where they can sit by the river. And so
that's a very exciting project for us, especially with our
two cubs that are coming up on being a year
old now that that's going to be a very fun
project for me. So I'm sure jaguars are going to
be my favorite for a while while we do that project,
and then in the future, whatever we decide to do
(30:26):
with our master plan that aligns with our mission and
our vision and our conservation efforts and these amazing animals
that we can bring to San Antonio for our guests
to see, that those will probably become my favorite. So
it really does change all the time.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I love it well, and I love your animals, and
I especially love those golden girls. They're quiet quite something,
and I encourage everyone to go and see that video. Tim.
How can more of our listeners learn more about what
you're doing at San Antonio Zoo.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
One of the best ways is to visit our website,
Essayzoo dot org, and you can see the conservation efforts
we're working on. You can see what the happenings are
at the zoo. We have a lot of we're really
doing more of you know, the old zoo that maybe
you and I went to or our parents went to
was kind of just the static, same zoo all the time.
We're really trying to create memorable, repeatable experiences here. So
we're doing more festivals and events, and a bigger Christmas
(31:14):
program and an expanded Halloween program now for the kids,
and celebrating animals in different ways, and so we're always
doing something that keeps us fresh, top of mind where
people are coming to visit us, because, like I say,
the more people that visit us, the more conservation work
we can do. So visiting our website essayz dot org
and then we are very active on social media. We're
probably one of the most active zoos in the country
on social media. So our Facebook page is Facebook, dot
(31:37):
com slash San Antonio Zoo, and that applies to Twitter
and Instagram and all the places that you can find
everyone these days. But we're very active out there talking,
telling our stories and also responding to guests questions good
or bad, because people have a lot of questions about zoos,
especially the younger generations, and the importance of zoos. So
really telling everyone what we've been talking about for the
last you know, twenty thirty minutes is critical to our
(31:59):
future to really tell people this is the purpose of
zoos in a quarians These days, it's not just the
menagerie collection of things to come look at like it
was of yesteryear. So it's very important for us to
be out there ahead of the curve and telling our story.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
That's beautiful, Tim Well, congratulations again on being certified by
the American Humane Conservation Program. You were the number twelfth
institution worldwide to be certified in our rigorous third party
assessment of zeus and aquariums around the world. That's quite
an achievement and I believe you were the first zoo
and the great state of Texas to be certified by
American Humane. So that's incredible. Kudos to you and congratulations
(32:35):
and all the great work.
Speaker 6 (32:37):
Well.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Please, listeners do go visit Tim's site and I also
encourage you to follow him on Twitter. Tim Morrow on
Twitter is a treat. I just learned recently that hippos
spend sixteen hours submerged in water, so thank you Tim
for that bit. I learned lots on your Twitter, so
thanks so much. I also learned a lot about the
San Antonio Spurs, so thank you for that too.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Supporting less you have it, one more championship, at least
one more.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
That's great. That's great. Well, Tim, thanks so much for
being our very special guest on today's show and sharing
your love for animals. We're so grateful.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
Thank you. Thank you for having me the honor to
be on and it's, like I said, honor to be
part of the American Humane certification program and we're very
proud of that.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Thank you, Dan, Thanks so much, and keep up the
great work for animals around the world. Friends, thank you
for joining us for such an important episode with this
current sixth mass extinction that we're experiencing in which twelve
plus species are dying out every day. It's more vital
than ever to work towards protecting the special creatures whom
we share the world with. To learn more about what
(33:40):
American Humaine is doing how we're helping to conserve and
protect species, please visit www dot Humane Conservation dot org.
Across the world and here at home. We're loving animals,
and I know you are too. Thanks for tuning in.
We'll see you next week here on Loving Animals with
me doctor Robin gancer
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Let's talk bets every week on them and only on
petlifradio dot com.
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