On this episode of Neut's world, my good friend Dr. Terry Maple, who was one of the great

zoo directors of all time and a wonderful personal

friend passed away on December 3rd 2023 he was 77 all the time I knew Terry going back to the mid 1980s he was brilliant

enthusiastic loved animals loved people had a remarkable career wrote over a

dozen scholarly books,

and as somebody I truly felt was a friend.

I miss him, and I wanted to share with you

the podcast that Terry and I did,

and you'll have a sense of what a wonderful person he was. I've been in love with animals all of my life and I enjoy going to zoos all over the world.

In fact, one of my original childhood goals was to be a zoo director.

I've been fortunate enough to visit some of the most incredible zoos as well as go on safari in Africa.

I confess that before I decided on a public service,

I was going to be either a zoo director or a vertebrate paleontologist,

but I ended up just trying to work on the country's problems. But my guest today considered a career in public service. We almost swapped and then he became a zoo director. But he's much more than that. We were fortunate enough to meet years ago when Dr. Terry Maple became president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta in 1984 under Mayor Andrew Young.

He then went on to lead the Palm Beach Zoo.

At the time Dr. Maple took over Zoo Atlanta in 1984,

the zoo had become, quote, a national disgrace,

following this mysterious death of an elephant

uncovered in a shallow grave in North Carolina. Twinkles of the elephant became

the post-Rpeccadiderm for zoo mismanagement and it was then

that Mayor Young turned to Dr. Maple. What Dr. Maple was able to do with Zoo

Atlanta was nothing short of remarkable.

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