Zoo has mission to make people care about environment

ALL GROWN UP: Jeremy Goodman, executive director of Roger Willams Park Zoo, says that he has been dreaming of running a zoo since he was a toddler. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
ALL GROWN UP: Jeremy Goodman, executive director of Roger Willams Park Zoo, says that he has been dreaming of running a zoo since he was a toddler. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Since he became executive director of Roger Williams Park Zoo last July, Jeremy Goodman has been focusing on making exhibits more interactive to fulfill what he sees as an important mission – to establish a bond between people and animals. That bond is intended to stretch far beyond an enjoyable day at the zoo into being concerned about the environment and having an impact on global issues such as climate change.
Spring will be the time to unveil new and improved exhibits, from a butterfly walk to the zoo’s stroll through a slice of Australia, giving visitors a chance to come almost face-to-face with a wallaby or kangaroo.

PBN: When did you first think about being a zoo director?
GOODMAN: I knew what I wanted to do since I was 2 or 3 years old. My dream was always to run a zoo. I dragged my parents to every zoo since I was about 4 years old.

PBN: Since you wanted to run a zoo, did you have cats and dogs when you were growing up?
GOODMAN: I never had a dog or a cat, but I had almost everything else – turtles, lizards, birds, hamsters and rabbits. We had a little, 8-foot, round swimming pool in the backyard we didn’t use much for swimming. I filled it up with everything – we had turtles and frogs and fish in our swimming pool.

PBN: Being a veterinarian is a pretty common goal for kids who like animals, but most of them find another path by the time they grow up. How did you stick with it?
GOODMAN: I didn’t start out wanting to be a veterinarian. I actually always wanted to be a zoo director. My parents said, “Why don’t you go to veterinary school, so if the zoo thing doesn’t work out, you’ll have a good career to fall back on.”

PBN: How do you define that difference that makes some people want to be a zoo director?
GOODMAN: There are animal people and there are zoo people – and they’re not always the same. You’ll find both working in zoos. Some people really love working with animals, and I do love animals. For zoo people, it’s the concept of what a zoo does that fascinates them. It’s about the important role zoos play in society.

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PBN: What do you see as the role of a zoo?
GOODMAN: The basic mission of a zoo is conservation and education and that expands into many functions. People don’t generally come to the zoo with the purpose of learning something. They come out to have a fun day with their family and friends. Part of our mission is to create that human and animal bond, to trigger that feeling of amazement.

PBN: Some people criticize zoos because of the concept of keeping animals in captivity. How do you respond to that kind of criticism?
GOODMAN: Our animals get the best care possible. We have diets where our animals are being fed restaurant-quality produce and fish and meats. Yes, it’s best for animals to be in the wild, but not every Rhode Islander is going to get a chance to go to a rain forest in the Amazon or on a safari in Kenya. We have an incredible mission to show off these animals as ambassadors and get people to care, then maybe they’ll vote for a clean-water bill or take the extra effort to throw a bottle into the recycling bin. Our critics say they can see a giraffe on HDTV, but it’s not the same. When you can experience it – see it and smell it, and in some cases feed it or touch it – it really is a memorable experience.

PBN: What are some the other parts of the mission of the zoo?
GOODMAN: The zoo contributes thousands of dollars a year to saving animals in the wild. We do local work. Our zoo is instrumental in saving the endangered American Burying Beetle. We’re helping solve an emerging disease in rattlesnakes in New England. We’re doing a breeding and release program for the New England Cottontail Rabbit.

PBN: What kinds of projects are you working on now for visitors?
GOODMAN: We’re focused on making our exhibits more interactive. We have a new butterfly exhibit that will open Memorial Day weekend that will give people a chance to walk through hundreds of butterflies. We’ve expanded our Australia exhibit to “A Walk Through Australia” and that opens in April. The previous residents were three kangaroos. Now we have a whole new community that includes 10 wallabies and other Australian animals.

PBN: Funding is often an issue for zoos. What are your plans to keep the zoo on solid financial footing?
GOODMAN: Roger Williams Park Zoo gets significant support from the city of Providence. In our planning, everything we do has to have a business model to it. All our new exhibits, in some way, will generate revenue. When people have the thrill of feeding sheep and goats in our new farm yard, it will cost them probably 50 cents. Our butterfly exhibit will have a separate nominal fee. At my last zoo, I was able to take it from about a $400,000 deficit to netting over a million dollars a year. I see that kind of thing happening here. People love Roger Williams Park Zoo and they will come out and support it, as long as we continue to build great, dynamic, new exhibits the public can enjoy. •

INTERVIEW
Jeremy Goodman
POSITION: Executive director of Roger Williams Park Zoo and Rhode Island Zoological Society
BACKGROUND: Goodman was born in Highland Park, Ill., and grew up mostly in Parsippany, N.J. During high school and college, he volunteered at zoos and aquariums. After veterinary school, he did an internship in small animal medicine, surgery and critical care business in New Jersey, and then worked in a private practice with a focus on exotic animals. He began working at a zoo as a veterinarian in Indiana and eventually moved into zoo administration. Prior to coming to Roger Williams Park Zoo, Goodman was director of Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, N.J., where he oversaw 23 construction projects totaling $45 million.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in animal science, Rutgers University, 1992; doctor of veterinary medicine, Tufts University, 1996
FIRST JOB: Pet sitting and mowing lawns
RESIDENCE: Providence
AGE: 43

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