In many cases, they were provided by backyard breeders and unaccredited roadside zoos and disappeared into private hands after those appearances.Īs publicity around the film grew, Hanna’s relatives said they hadn’t seen it and could not comment on the claims.
#Jack hanna columbus zoo tv#
The film tied the zoo and Hanna to the big cat trade, showing that some tiger, lion and snow leopard cubs that had been Hanna’s fuzzy and adorable companions on TV neither came from nor returned to the zoo. Yet even more wrenching were the accusations leveled in the documentary “The Conservation Game,” which premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on April 6. Twenty-nine full- and part-time employees were furloughed, and 33 non-animal care positions across the zoo and The Wilds were eliminated. Yet, that year, it was closed for weeks, ultimately sustaining $20 million in operational losses. More than half its earned revenue comes from admissions and other sales, such as food and gift items. Typically, Columbus Zoo is open 363 days a year. The spending abuse was a particularly painful blow after the pandemic-related financial hardship of 2020. Investigations by Ohio’s state auditor and attorney general are still underway, their spokespeople said.
The findings were confirmed in subsequent reviews, including a forensic analysis that found financial abuses by Stalf, Bell and two other former executives cost the zoo more than $630,000. Interim CEO Jerry Borin has overseen zoo business since then-CEO Tom Stalf and his chief financial officer, Greg Bell, resigned in March after a Columbus Dispatch investigation found they allowed relatives to live in houses owned or controlled by the zoo and sought tickets for family members to attend entertainment events. “The people who took liberties in their power are gone, and the people who are cleaning up the mess in the room, under new leadership, we’re moving forward. “We can’t change what happened in the past, but we’ve done a lot to admit those wrongs, to apologize and to address our shortcomings,” said zoo spokesperson Nicolle Gomez Racey. Keith Shumate, chair of the zoo’s board, called Schmid “extremely smart, ethical and passionate about zoos and wildlife conservation.” A day later, in timing they said was unrelated, Hanna’s family announced he had dementia and would retire from public life. Then in April, just as a streaming international TV channel named for him was launching, a damning animal rights documentary alleging Hanna had ties to the big cat trade premiered in California. The next week, the zoo’s beloved 29-year-old bonobo Unga died, and a 4-year-old cheetah injured a zookeeper. In March, news of a financial scandal broke. 1, the first day of famous zookeeper Jack Hanna’s retirement after 42 years as the beloved celebrity director-turned-ambassador of the nation’s second-largest zoo.Īs if the khaki-wearing “Jungle Jack” were the life’s breath of the institution that his upbeat animal-loving persona and masses of TV appearances made famous, the zoo seemed to deflate from there. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.ĬOLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium had a bear of a year. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.
0 kommentar(er)
