Louis County, how do you envision WildCare Park complementing what the zoo has traditionally offered? At the zoo, the animals are in exhibits that you walk through, but with WildCare Park, you’ll be surrounded by animals. Zoos are really leveraging what we do here to protect or restore or revive natural habitats.įive years from now, when it opens in St. It’s the way we connect the animals that you see in front of you to their wild brethren, making those animals true ambassadors. It’s not just the literal conservation we do in, say, Forest Park or Missouri or around the world. What does that look like in execution? Zoos make a phenomenal difference. “ZOOS HAVE TRANSITIONED INTO TRUE CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS THAT AFFECT THE FUTURE AND FATE OF WILD THINGS IN WILD PLACES.” But zoos have transitioned into true conservation organizations that affect the future and fate of wild things in wild places. It used to be that people thought of zoos as just collections of animals-you go there, you see them, and that was kind of the extent of it. How have zoos changed in terms of their roles in conservation? I think it’s been one of the real sea changes. To a certain extent, I think your reach should exceed your grasp, and you should always strive to do better. There’s only so many hours in the day there’s only so much money and only so many of us. You can never do enough to help curtail the trade in endangered species. You can never do enough to help with the bushmeat crisis. You can never do enough for conservation. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced over the past two decades? No matter how much you do, you have this feeling that you could’ve done more. What were the highlights of your tenure? Launching the WildCare Institute and the Institute of Conservation Medicine, the Proposition Z tax, and the creation of the $93 million endowment.
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Under Bonner’s watch, the zoo has evolved into a conservation-focused institution that also enables guests to experience animals in all of their stinky, slimy, lovable ways. Now Bonner is preparing to retire at the end of the year, closing out an era of transformative stewardship of the century-old campus. During his 19 years of leadership, he has sought to make sure visitors shared in such up-close interactions. But Bonner has cherished the feeling of immersion with the animals.
#St louis zoo s wall skin#
On humid summer days, when he walks through the penguin exhibit while wearing shorts and a T-shirt, the one-two punch of the chilly temperatures and curious odors is enough to make his skin tingle and his nostrils twitch.
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Jeffrey Bonner, the outgoing president and CEO of the Saint Louis Zoo, is going to miss his job-even the parts that smell bad. “We applaud the work of the Saint Louis Zoo and wish Kali a bright and happy future in his new home,” Neil Gibson, FedEx”s vice president of corporate communications, said in a statement Friday.Dr. Kali”s new digs are a 40,000-square-foot habitat offering visitors starting in a month a glimpse of him through a 22-foot window. Attendants who followed in a vehicle frequently checked Kali”s condition, providing water along the way during the five-hour drive in which the bear was in a cargo area kept at 55 degrees.
#St louis zoo s wall drivers#
Louis zoo”s spokeswoman.Īt Memphis, FedEx said, the bear was wheeled to a waiting company truck, its drivers trained in handling sensitive shipments. Louis Zoo”s curator of mammals and carnivores, to monitor and hydrate him and “basically talk to him,” said Susan Gallagher, the St. The crate was placed behind the cockpit wall, allowing a Buffalo zoo representative and Steve Bircher, the St. Kali caught a three-hour flight on a FedEx Express 767 jet from Rochester, New York, to Memphis, Tennessee, secured in a specially designed, half-ton aluminum crate while monitored by a veterinarian and two attendants, the company said in its blog. Kali”s latest adventure came Tuesday, when Fe圎x having over the years handled everything from endangered sea turtles to seals and pandas stepped in with air and ground transportation to get a bear halfway across the country. Kali spent the past two years at the Buffalo zoo after he was orphaned in Alaska”s wilderness when a hunter unknowingly killed his mother, unaware she had a cub.
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The zoo said Kali was resting comfortably and would remain in quarantine for about a month, which is a standard practice that allows an animal to become acclimated to its new digs. The bear was shipped in by FedEx plane and truck ahead of its scheduled June 6 debut at the zoo”s new Polar Bear Point Exhibit. Louis Zoo on Friday announced the arrival of its latest resident, a 2-year-old male polar bear named Kali that was orphaned as a cub.
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LOUIS (AP) Sometimes, shipping an 850-pound beast can be a real bear.