Wild Side of Petoskey:“Jungle” Jack Hanna featured at 2010 North Central Michigan College Lecture Series By Erin Crowell Jack Hanna has been making late night talk show hosts nervous with his exotic animals since 1985. Hanna has even been in the wildlife industry longer than Earth Day has existed, which is currently celebrating its 40th year. Along with his current title as Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, the naturalist and TV host of Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild has become an ambassador to the animal kingdom, bringing the general populous closer to understanding exotic wildlife from around the world. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1947, Jack Bushnell Hanna started working with animals at the age of 11, cleaning cages for the family veterinarian – a job he says he didn’t mind because of his love for animals. After marrying his wife Suzi, Hanna opened a pet shop in Knoxville before receiving an invitation to direct a small zoo in Sanford, Florida in 1973. From there, he became a zoo director in Columbus, Ohio, turning the outdated animal habitats and aquarium of the Columbus Zoo into a place where millions of people visit each year. With the birth of baby twin gorillas at the zoo in 1983, Hanna was invited to appear on Good Morning America – since then, he has served as a wildlife correspondent for several TV news outlets and has appeared, along with numerous species, on shows like Larry King Live, Hollywood Squares, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Entertainment Tonight and The Late Show with David Letterman. Between filming for his Emmy award wining TV show, Hanna appears regularly at colleges and nonprofit events across the country. Hanna will speak at the North Central Michigan College Lecture Series in Petoskey, on Thursday, April 29. He will bring several animals with him, including a cheetah, flamingo, penguin, sloth and lynx, among others. The Northern Express talked with Hanna over the phone, who—in a very excitable manner—discussed his passion for animals and the impact we all have on their lives.
Northern Express: You just returned from filming for your TV series, “Into the Wild.” Where did you go? Jack Hanna: I was on safari in South Africa and Malaysia filming orangutans, cobras, elephants, all sorts of creatures. We tracked down a cheetah on foot and we were down near the Cape filming the black-footed penguins. We even actually helped some baboons cross a road – that was fun. And, we did a story on elephant poaching and I got to become a ranger for two days. We got back 12 hours before the (Iceland) volcano grounded all the flights over there.
NE: How much time do you spend on the road? Hanna: We do about 22 shows a year, and I do about 80 to 100 events from coast to coast. I travel about 260 days a year. That also includes book tours. I do a lot of speaking events. I have like six jobs.
NE: The animals that you bring with you at speaking engagements and on television shows, do they come from the Columbus Zoo? Hanna: They come from nine zoos from around the country. I’m working with zoos in Florida, California, New York, Texas…it all depends on where I’m speaking.
NE: Okay, here’s the fifth grade question: What animal is your favorite? Hanna: Oh boy, it’s hard because I love all animals; but I would have to say the mountain gorilla…or the elephant…and there’s certain kinds of insects that fascinate me. The dung beetle in Africa rolls up into elephant poop and hibernates there. I’m also fascinated by certain birds; and I love whales and dolphins…
NE: You sound so excited when you talk about animals. Would you say working with them has kept you young – both in body and spirit? Hanna: Oh yes. I think working with animals does keep you spiritually young. I have traveled to all corners of the world; and this is just an amazing, incredible planet we have. I teach conservation and how we can take care of the planet and wildlife. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that what happens to our resources, affects animals, and in turn, affects us.
NE: What do you tell critics of your work? Hanna: I’ve tried working with animal rights groups, and some of those people are just plain nut cases. You can’t just put all the animals back out into the wild. That’s why we have zoos – good zoos, not bad ones. We have 220 of them in this country. Ninety nine percent of our animals come from other zoos – animals that are born in captivity. Not everyone has the means to travel like I do, and this allows people to see these animals up close. People leave learning something.
NE: Would you say there’s an endangered species or issue that particularly deserves our attention? Hanna: Yes, there are animals on the verge of extinction, but I think you have to look at every little creature as something important. I don’t want to pick out the killer whale, the gorilla, or what-not. If we can’t save our icon species then what are we doing wrong?
When I became zoo director at the Columbus Zoo in 1978, there were 1.41 million elephants. Today, there’s less than 375,000. The black rhino: back in 1978, there were 60,000. Now, there are less than 30,000. But I’m optimistic. A lot of these animals are holding steady. You have to be optimistic with what I do. It’s like a football game. You go out there to win.
NE: Which takes us back to the objective of zoos, right? Hanna: Right. Zoos are the one of the keys to saving wildlife. There are 182 million visits to zoos each year – compare that to professional sports like NASCAR and professional baseball combined. How many people can do what I do? Unfortunately, not everyone can; but they can go see these animals at a zoological park. People living in Northern Michigan might say, ‘Why do I care about the elephant and rhino?’ Once they go see them, whether it’s at the Detroit Zoo or somewhere else, they say, ‘Hey, that’s pretty cool.’ If we can’t teach our young people to love something, you can’t teach them to save it. You have to love what you want to save. And that’s what we teach.
See “Jungle” Jack Hanna, along with several animal species, at North Central Michigan College, in Petoskey, on Thursday, April 29, at 7 p.m.. The lecture will be held in the college’s Student and Community Resource Center Gymnasium. Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. For more information on the 2010 Lecture Series, call 231-439-6349.
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