Lee Ehmke interview on the future of zoos

[DavidBrown]

Lee Ehmke is the director of the Minnesota Zoo and the current president of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

At the link below is a radio interview with him on the future of zoos and their potential as a force for wildlife conservation. He has some interesting ideas and thoughts. The interview is embedded on the website.

Minn. Zoo director on the future of zoos | Minnesota Public Radio News

 

[toto98]

I had the real pleasure to meet Lee last week in the ALPZA (Latin american zoo association) held in Lima. I was impressed by his presentation, it was about his story in the zoo world. I felt somewhat identified as he drew zoo maps when young and even read some zoo masterplans (as many zoochatters). After the presentation I started to believe (again) that someday I could become te president of WAZA.

 

[IanRRobinson]

I think that zoos in the developed world really need to look at doing more to help their counterparts in the developing world. It is getting more urban and more disconnected from nature, and those zoos, properly run, add vital ark capacity.

In all honesty, zoo visitors in Indiana (or Essex!) becoming enthused about orang-utans aren't likely to be able to directly affect the species' chances of survival. Zoo visitors in Djakarta are a different story.