This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stucats podcast.

Hi, everyone. In the words of Rafiki from one of my favorite movies, The Lion King, it is time.

After 46 years of an extraordinary journey, it's with deep gratitude and heartfelt reflection

that I announced my retirement from Zoo Miami,

effective May 10th of this year.

What began from me at the Old Cranan Park Zoo on Key Biscayne, evolved into Miami Metro Zoo,

and ultimately into the world-class institution we know today is Zoo Miami.

To have witnessed, and even played a small part in, that evolution has been one of the greatest

honors of my life. Zos cannot spend millions of dollars on new exhibits without committing

a substantial portion of those budgets to in situ conservation of the very animals they choose

to showcase. If zoos become the last place where those species can safely survive, then

zoos have failed and which should

be their top priority, to protect wild animals in the wild where they truly belong. It is

that belief that led me to create what I am most proud of in my career, the establishment

of the Ron McGill Conservation Endowment at the Zoo Miami Foundation. When people ask me what

I want my legacy to be, I want it to be this endowment.

It's been established in such a way that long after all of us are gone,

it'll continue to fund conservation initiatives and scholarships

that will help ensure the survival of some of our world's wonderful wildlife for generations to come.

I want to thank the Zoo Miami Foundation

for giving me the opportunity to remain connected to Zoo Miami and continue sharing the stories

that matter. I am deeply honored to serve as the Foundation's Goodwill Ambassador and Conservation

...