Cincinnati Zoo Director Shares Lessons, Animals With Business Leaders

By Mike Perleberg Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard along with a few animal friends were the featured guests at the Dearborn County Chamber of Commerce's Get Energized Luncheon on Thursday. Photo by Mike Perleberg, Eagle 99.3. (Aurora, Ind.) – Things got a little wild when some of Dearborn County’s business and community leaders got together at the Dearborn Country Club on Thursday. There wasn’t table dancing or people putting lampshades on their heads, but there were snakes, owls, and armadillos that Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard brought along to share with the audience. Maynard – an internationally known naturalist, wildlife preservationist, and host of the NPR feature “The 90-Second Naturalist” – was the featured speaker at the Dearborn County Chamber of Commerce’s annual Get Energized luncheon. “The real value of the zoo is reaching this community, greater Cincinnati, and taking the story of wildlife and inspiring people,” Maynard told the audience. The wildlife that tagged along to Aurora nearly stole the show from Maynard. As he spoke about the zoo and shared some of his experiences, an assistant carried to each table a hairy armadillo, a boa constrictor, and a barn owl - an endangered species in several Midwestern states. Maynard, who joined the zoo in 1978 when he moved here with his Cincinnati native wife, said the zoo brags many aspects. Among them, it is the only zoo to successfully breed in captivity the most endangered animal in the world: the Sumatran rhinoceros. It is also the only zoo that has daily cheetah runs for general audiences to see the big cats sprint at up to 61 MPH. A hairy armadillo was one of the Cincinnati Zoo animals to visit the Dearborn Country Club. Photo by Mike Perleberg, Eagle 99.3. As the zoo’s man-in-charge, Maynard has had the zoo staff embrace the working mantra of F-squared, or “fun is fundamental.” “People don’t come to the zoo to be lectured or hear bad news about polar bears and ice floats. They come to celebrate wildlife and conservation and learn how they can get involved with wildlife and also have a great day with their family,” Maynard said. Maynard said the Cincinnati Zoo has been recognized as one of the nation’s greenest zoos. Founded in 1873, the zoo has an abundance of old infrastructure that has been replaced with more efficient means. “We were wasting water, we were wasting electricity and natural gas at huge, titanic levels because of such an old system,” Maynard explained. “We used to have the largest water bill in the Metropolitan Sewer District. Now we’re not even in the top 10.” Maynard added that green initiatives have helped save one billion gallons of water. Wind turbines and solar panels now help power the zoo. “It’s usually possible to do things smarter and better,” he said. Aurora native Martin Rahe is chairman of the Cincinnati Zoo’s Board of Directors. Aurora attorney Andrea Ewan is a member of the zoo’s Ambassador Council. They were also present at the luncheon. Thane Maynard said barn owls are possibly the originator of ghost stories around the world. Photo by Mike Perleberg, Eagle 99.3.