COLUMBUS, Ohio — There is something unique and calming when you walk through the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in the early morning hours before gates open to the public.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Tom Schmid, CEO and president since December 2021. “It’s a pretty amazing experience and we have so many experiences like this throughout the zoo.”
The zoo is gearing up to redevelop animal habitats throughout its 250-acre property, starting with the North America region, the oldest part of the zoo and home to many endangered species.
“Yeah, highly endangered,” Schmid said referencing the Mexican gray wolf exhibit. Approximately 240 live in the wild.
“To save species from extinction you need lots and lots of partners studying animals in a managed care situation like this so we can learn more about natural history, rescuing in the wild if needed, supporting wild populations, keeping populations here so they can be reintroduced later, all these things, it's a complex system of programs that will help the species thrive in the wild,” he explained to 10TV’s Angela An, morning news anchor for Wake Up CBUS.
This region of the zoo will also become home to the zoo’s new Ohio Center for Wildlife Conservation where the public can see firsthand the conservation work conducted by specialists in Columbus and beyond.
“We’re going to repurpose this facility,” Schmid said in reference to the current Habitat Hollow area.
“Many guests may be familiar with projects we do in Africa and Asia but we do a lot of conservation right here in Ohio,” he explained.
Recent projects include the reintroduction of hellbenders, one of the largest amphibian species, back into Ohio Rivers.
“We want to tell those stories here,” Schmid said with excitement. “What I’m hoping to share for students coming through the zoo is understanding that we're a lot more than keeping animals in professional care, that there's a reason for doing that, and not just for folks to come here and learn about animals but to actually save animals from extinction.”
Schmid said the $33 million wildlife center set to break ground this fall is just one component of the new mission and messaging appropriately nicknamed “Columbus Zoo 3.0.”
“The overall plan is to pivot to getting our community and stakeholders to understand that we are more than a zoo, we are a wildlife conservation that happens to manage a zoo, an aquarium, a water park, a golf course and a conservation center and whatever else we build in the future but it has one purpose and that is saving wildlife,” Schmid said.
Right now, three cougars are thriving at the zoo after arriving as cubs in 2021.
You can find them in the North America region where roughly 70% of the animals were either displaced by natural disasters, orphaned, rescued or rehabbed due to injuries.
“One of these mountain lions was severely burned and we weren’t sure if that animal was going to make it,” Schmid said. “So, they found a forever home at the Columbus Zoo.”
The upcoming Zoofari 2023 event on June 17th will help the Columbus Zoo increase its fundraising impact to match the mission.
“We've reformatted the nature of event,” Schmid said of the reimagined Zoofari event which will include a performance by Cincinnati-based band Walk the Moon, a comedy show by Pete Lee, and a live art concert by Michael Israel.
“It’s an amazing party and experience, but a party with a cause,” Schmid adds. He also said people who attend can take pride in knowing they had a hand in doing good for the community and conservation.
“For generations when they share with kids later and say we had cocktails at Zoofari and the money that we used to support that helped build this exhibit that you are looking at today and that's a great legacy they can share with their children.”
