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A podcast focusing on the perspectives, lives, and stories of Kansans to provide greater insight into the state we all call home.
Ep66
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Sydney's Big News
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[00:00:00]
Gus Applequist: Well, Sydney, I believe you have some news to share with the audience.
Sydney Collins: I do. So you might start seeing me get bigger and bigger and bigger. It's because we are having another Kansan in December.
Gus Applequist: Congratulations.
Sydney Collins: So if you're wondering why my wardrobe changes, 'cause I usually wear the exact same thing, it cycles through on- all the podcasts it's because my clothes have to start getting bigger and bigger, so.
Gus Applequist: Congratulations.
Sydney Collins: Uh, baby, n- yeah, number, well, number two for me, but four for our family, uh- in December, so.
Nice.
You'll get a nice, fun w- I don't know, jump scare during the podcast, during the conversation today. 'Cause I got excited about the zoo, and I guess baby also got excited about the zoo, so. Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Anyway.
Podcast Plans Ahead
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Gus Applequist: And yeah, we, we're starting to think about what it looks like for Sydney to take a little break on the podcast.
Sydney Collins: Yeah, so December, January, f- maybe even February, you might see Tanner or [00:01:00] Julie, maybe even Merlin. We'll just throw it all out there.
Gus Applequist: Yeah,
yeah.
Sydney Collins: Or have some guests on the podcast.
So guest hosts. Yeah. So.
Awesome.
We'll figure that out. Woo-hoo.
Meet Rolling Hills Zoo
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Sydney Collins: Welcome to Ask a Kansan
Gus Applequist: a podcast connecting, uncovering, and amplifying Kansas.
Sydney Collins: So today we have a fun guest. I'm only slightly upset that we did not get an animal, but I think that's just 'cause my heart is set on the animals, and I get really excited about animals.
Gus Applequist: You know, see, there's this thing called accreditation.
And I'm guessing that it's frowned upon to pull the animals out and take them into a random basement.
Sydney Collins: That's true. It's not good for the animals. But we do have a fun guest, [00:02:00] uh, Ryan VanZant. He is the executive director for Rolling Hills Zoo here in Salina.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, we talked about all sorts of different things from what it's like growing up with an interest in birds and and into-
Sydney Collins: Yeah, things that I would've never guessed in a million years-
that Ryan has done, so.
Gus Applequist: He has quite a journey.
Sydney Collins: He is, he has a really fun story.
Gus Applequist: So without any further ado, here's our interview with Ryan. Hello again.
Sydney Collins: Howdy, howdy.
Ryan: Good morning.
Gus Applequist: How are you today?
Ryan: Doing great.
Gus Applequist: Good.
Welcome. Good to see you. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: I see you.
Ryan: Nice to meet you.
All
Ryan VanZant: righty.
Gus Applequist: Well, welcome to Ask a Kansan.
Ryan VanZant: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Ryan’s Kansas Path
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Gus Applequist: Could you, uh, please introduce yourself for us? Uh,
Ryan VanZant: My name is Ryan Van Zandt, and I'm the executive director at the Rolling Hills Zoo.
Gus Applequist: Awesome. And how long have you been doing that?
Ryan VanZant: Just over five years now I've been at Rolling Hills.
Gus Applequist: Wow.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: And is this job what brought you to Kansas?
Ryan VanZant: Actually the job before. Okay. I was the director of the Hutchinson Zoo just before this. Okay. Wow. So that was how I ended up in Kansas on a more permanent basis [00:03:00] anyways. Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Gotcha. And how long were you in Hutchinson then?
Ryan VanZant: About five years there as well.
Gus Applequist: Five years. Yep. So you've been in Kansas about 10 years now.
Ryan VanZant: Uh-huh. Yeah. Wonderful. Time, time flies.
Gus Applequist: And, and how do you find it?
Ryan VanZant: I, I love it here. It's, uh, where I wanna be. prior to here, I worked for the University of Oklahoma for about ooh, almost 12 years in the biological survey- ... doing, uh, environmental education and doing, uh, uh, participating in prairie bird research.
Uh, Prairies are, like, where I belong. So, so even after, when I was in Hutchinson we were pretty happy. I looked at my wife one day and said, "You know, the only other zoo I really would like to be at is the Rolling Hills Zoo." And I said that, and like a month later, the previous director put in his retirement.
So I was like, "Well, I guess it's time to to put in here." So, uh, all worked out.
Why This Zoo Location
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Gus Applequist: What, what was it that attracted you to the zoo?
Ryan VanZant: Uh, well, I love that the zoo's, I love the community of Salina, and I love that the zoo is not in town. Yeah. Uh, most, most zoos are like were built when the town was built, you know?
It was o- oftentimes like the most beautiful park in the world 100 years ago. And then cities expanded out from that. And then zoos, a lot of times [00:04:00] they're landlocked inside, uh, the middle of city. while that's great for the, the people who live there to be able to get in close and, and see the zoo, it, uh, limits the zoo of what they can do.
And, um, where we're at way out in the country, you know, we don't have light pollution out there. We don't have noise pollution. Uh, we're really a unique setup amongst- Mm ... many, many zoos out there.
Gus Applequist: I imagine that's better for the animals too. Is that true?
Uh,
Ryan VanZant: I, I wouldn't make the argument better or worse, but it, it certainly mimics nature a little closer when they, uh
You know, there's dark. And when it's dark out there, it's dark. I've been out a few times in the evening, you know, working late or something and take a stroll and it, when it's dark, and it, it's certainly, uh, you can see every star in the sky out there.
Childhood Animal Obsession
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Gus Applequist: How, how early in your career, or in your life I should really ask, did you get interested in, in zoological studies or biology or whatever?
Ryan VanZant: Sure. Early, like the beginning. I had the best of both worlds growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. You know, it's maybe Wichita-ish size town. My parents lived in town. My grandparents lived out in the country. Both my parents worked, so [00:05:00] my brother and I, we spent a lot of times out in the country during the week.
And then during the school year and such, we were in town. So lots of hiking, lots of collecting turtles and frogs and- finding snakes and watching birds and getting lost in corn fields and like- It was a really great childhood. Somewhere along the lines there, it, it's kind of a, a, a sad story, uh, turned happy weirdly, but I had a I had a pet gerbil and, uh, I had a little brother and a pet gerbil, and the little gerbil was running around between our legs, and he hopped over our legs, and my brother swatted at him, and he was very young.
He didn't know any better, and it, it kinda injured the gerbil. Permanently injured the gerbil- ... to not being alive. But, um I know. It's very, it's, it's a very bad ter- or, it turns for the better. So
Sydney Collins: I think we've all had some sort of rodent as a pet that just has died. I think that's a rite of passage through childhood.
Ryan VanZant: Yes. I, I think it is. It is unfortunate.
Parakeets to Parrots
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Ryan VanZant: So we went to the pet store to get another rodent [00:06:00] as a family does. But they didn't have any, and, what they did have were parakeets. And, um, so we had an old birdcage at home, so, my parents were very, uh, very open to understanding all this animal love-
that I had. So I came home with this parakeet. We'd never had a bird before. My, my grandmother had canaries, I think, or something. But so I had this parakeet. I trained it up. It started, you know, it talked a little bit, and it hung out on my shoulder, and, like... So that was pretty neat. And then, you know, a kid who's got this, all these interests in animals, then, then had two parakeets.
And then two parakeets became, like, 40 parakeets.
Sydney Collins: Oh my gosh. Where did you put all these birds?
Ryan VanZant: Well, well, they started breeding, you know, and I had set up these big cages in the basement. And, and then at some point my parents were like, "You know, I see you're really into this." " maybe if we get a little bit bigger types of parrots, then we can have less of them."
So, uh, so then I got some conures, which are a small type of parrot, and, um- started breeding those. And now this is, you know, this is back in the 1900s. You know? We're, we're talking, like, the late '80s and early [00:07:00] '90s here. And at that point in time, they could still import parrots from the wild.
So you- Hmm ... at that point in time, you could go to Walmart, and you could buy a, a, like, a blue-crowned conure- that was captured from the wild, and they'd sell it there. Now, that, uh, officially closed in, like, 1993, I believe it was.
Gus Applequist: Thank goodness.
Sydney Collins: For a good reason.
Ryan VanZant: For a very good reason.
but I'm this teenage kid who's breeding these parrots, and nobody bred them then because ... you could just buy them so cheap from, literally, Walmart sometimes. So when that closed, things sort of flipped, and then they were hard to get. So these little little conures that I had that, you know, were selling for 40 bucks or something like that when I started, were then selling for, like, $800 or something.
And, um, so I got this kind of weird reputation of this young guy who, who had these birds that people wanted. Now I've, I've learned along the lines, um, that, you know, life of a pet parrot is tough, and to have a pet parrot, to be a pet parrot owner is very tough. It's like having a two-year-old child for, like, 50 years that can rattle your-
Sydney Collins: Yeah,
that's a hard no for me.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah. Yeah. Me too. I'm about, I'm about [00:08:00] have all mine out of the house now. Uh, children. Yeah. I don't have any parrots anymore. But you know, for the right person, you know, it can, it can work out well. But it's difficult. so I moved away from that world.
Peregrines and DDT
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Ryan VanZant: And somewhere in there, um, the Peregrine Fund was in town, and they were reintroducing peregrine falcons in cities at that point in time.
So the peregrine falcon became an endangered species because of DDT, similar to the bald eagle. DDT affects, uh, you know, it's a, it's a insect killer. And then i- insects die, and then the fish eat them, and then the fish get eaten by other animals, or the birds eat them. And then the peregrine falcons and the bald eagles and the ospreys would eat those animals.
And then that affected the nidomidal gland, which is what puts calcium in eggshells. So- so they'd sit on their eggs, and they'd crush their own eggs. So that was why- ... these bird of prey populations crashed, just like the bald eagle and the peregrine.
Sydney Collins: I don't
think anyone's ever explained that to me.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, I had no idea.
Ryan VanZant: Well, there you go.
Sydney Collins: That makes so much
Ryan VanZant: sense now.
And you got that, uh, nice big word for the day, too. The nidomidal gland. Yep. so that's how it [00:09:00] happened. And luckily birds of prey are fairly long-lived, so they kind of weathered that storm. And then humans came in to help. So the Peregrine Fund some really bright people realized that peregrine falcons live on cliffs in the wild.
So they're, you know, eating... They mainly eat other birds, but, uh, they live on these cliff faces. And someone had the great idea that a city to a bird looks a lot like a cliff you know, the buildings and things. Oh. And then there's these darn birds called pigeons that are just everywhere. So, that project started by releasing peregrine falcons in big cities a controlled release that is another long story, but essentially there's a controlled release where they learn to hunt mostly pigeons. And then birds do, m- well, many animals do they come back to the area where they were born to- Mm ... to breed. And we humans do that, too. A lot of times we, you know- Yeah ... if you grow up in Salina, you go off to, you know, K-State or, or KU or somewhere- Then you come back ... further away, and then you're gone for a while, and you live in the big city.
And then, you know, you're starting to have kids, and you're like, "Oh, it'd be nice to be by mom and dad again." So you move back to town. Well, birds do the same thing. [00:10:00] They, they leave, and then they you know, mature, and then they come back. And they had hoped that this would work with peregrine falcons that they would grow up in the city, leave for a while, become sexually mature, come back, and then start breeding in the cities.
And that's worked. It's been hugely successful. Yeah. There's peregrines nesting in almost every major city from the Midwest all the way to the East Coast now. And, uh, they're actually taken off endangered species list because of those efforts. Wow.
Falconry Life Explained
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Ryan VanZant: So, that rolls back to, um, teenage Ryan, volunteering with this organization and spending my summers just with a pair of binoculars in hand and a, and a walkie-talkie, uh, just watching these baby falcons learn to be real falcons. And that, and that, that really locked in for me. Falcons are like where, you know, my passion is to the point where I've become a falconer and I have, have falcons and I hunt with them, and that's another reason that I love being in Kansas as well, because you just need those wide open places so, with a little bit of training, you know, these birds don't love me by any, by any means, but they, [00:11:00] they learn to work with me, and then you can sort of manufacture this interaction that happens every day out in the wild of these predator-prey interactions and and get to see it on a daily basis.
you know, it's not about the falcon winning. It's, it's about the prey. Prey wins just as much or, or more than the falcon does, and it's really these just elaborate dance of being able to see nature in a different way that most people don't get to experience.
Sydney Collins: So what you're telling me now, instead of parrot cages, now you have falcon cages at your house?
Ryan VanZant: Well, it's a little more elaborate than a cage- Well, yeah ... but yes but I do at my house I u- usually have a, a falcon around, Okay ... as well, so yeah.
Gus Applequist: I had a whole plan of my next question.
Ryan VanZant: Okay.
Gus Applequist: But I've, it's been derailed. Are you familiar with C.J. Box, the writer? He has a series of books about Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.
Ryan VanZant: I, I, the Joe, the Joe Pickett and Wyoming part sounds familiar- Okay ...
but I'm not
familiar with the stories.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, his best friend in the book is a, is a guy who is a, a falconer. And, and so, yeah.
Sydney Collins: This feels like a Big Bang Theory reference. [00:12:00]
Gus Applequist: Oh, yeah, it's very different.
Sydney Collins: I feel like- It's, sheldon made this reference-
Gus Applequist: Yeah, sorry
Sydney Collins: ... at some point.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, I'm, yeah, so I, I've been learning about yerrik and- Uh-huh. Yeah ... some of those, yeah, the falconry terms, so.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah, there's
a few, few things. There's H is for Hawk, a Helen, Helen Macdonald, I believe, book that's out now that's, I think, became a movie or becoming a movie that brings people to it.
But it's the furthest thing from keeping a hawk or a falcon as a pet, though. I mean, it, it is- Yeah ... I mean, they fly f- free. They're choosing to come back. And so it takes a, a training and, and some sort of connection as well with them that, And, and they're just, they're on the edge of wild still.
And pr- it's just a pretty neat thing if, if that's the lifestyle that you you're into.
I think we're gonna have to have you back on 'cause I just wanna talk about falconry. Uh-huh. Okay. Okay. But, um- That's gonna be a you and him episode.
Becoming Zoo Director
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Ryan VanZant: Okay, so, so if there's a listener, maybe a young listener- who has a dream to become a, the director of a zoo.
Can you, can you explain what it is you actually do as the director of a zoo? No. [00:13:00]
It changes every single day. You know, it, and every zoo is very different as well. So for me quickly jumping back to my childhood- Mm ... all I wanted to do was train animals for movies. Like, that's what I wanted to do from the time I can remember wanting a job, through college, and then I did it for a little while. And my parents all, you know, from Indiana, not exactly the movie industry, you know. And my parents were always, "Oh, well, what if that doesn't work out?" They never were like, "You can't do that." But they kinda were. And they were- All parents are the same. Yeah, yeah. And they're like, "Well, why don't you be a veterinarian?" And I was like, "I don't really wanna be a veterinarian." Yeah. I, you know, and- There's a lot
Sydney Collins: of biology involved in that
Ryan VanZant: one. Yeah, and they're pushing me and pushing me, and finally I was just like, "Oh, if it doesn't work out, I'll just be a zoo director," you know?
Yeah. Just flippantly, I, you know- ... get 'em off my back, really. that was my dream. Went to college, did it for a little while. Hated it. I loved training the animals and being around the animals, but, um- two, two things in particular that come to mind. One was like, you know, can you train this hawk to fly here to here in this shot?
And then you do that, takes a few weeks, and then- [00:14:00] you show up on set and the director would be like, "Well, yeah, I want that, but can he do a barrel roll in the middle?" And- And you're like, "No. You know, he can't."
Sydney Collins: That is 100% a movie director-
thing to say.
Ryan VanZant: So, so that was part of it, and then the other part was you'd get paid really well for for that gig or whatever, and then you wouldn't get paid for a while, and, you know- 20-something Ryan was not great at saving money, you know? When, when I lived in Orlando at the time, and, you know- all the fun, exciting things. So, so it wasn't a great lifestyle for me, but I tra- I really enjoyed training animals and the education parts of that. So I started working for a company down there that was contracted by Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Where we did the, the bird show at Animal Kingdom. Yeah. And then we did contract bird shows all across the country at different zoos and places where we flew hawks, and eagles, and parrots, and crows, and cranes, and had talking parrots, and all based around natural behaviors. But that's where I really started getting my experience in the animal world, and then we did consultant work training all types of animals. If you can train a bird, you can train anything. Because, you know, if you're training an elephant and it doesn't wanna participate, it just [00:15:00] kinda walks over there. But if you're training a bird and it doesn't want to participate, it's gonna fly to another state. So, so this kinda all tied together, but it was early on in the field kinda transitioning to positive reinforcement training of animals rather than- just kinda making the animal do what you want. You know, welfare and wellbeing in accredited zoos is really over the last 25 years in particular, it's just, it's become a central focus. And then- allowing these animals choice and using training to have them choose to participate w- is a big switch in the field.
So, so I felt it was really gratifying to be part of that change in the beginning. But as time moved on, then I went to work for OU and participated in some research, still did education, started project managing. Went back and got graduate degree, and then people started coming up to me and saying, "You know, you should run this place," or, "You should lead this thing," and Just a lot of kind of things started coming together correctly where it finally was a seed in my head that, yeah, maybe I can do do this leadership part of the [00:16:00] business. And coincidentally around that same time, I was in Hutchinson for a falconry thing. And, uh, came to me that their zoo needed a director, and the things that they needed that zoo to do were things that I felt I did really well, and, uh, threw my hat in the ring, and a month later was living in Hutchinson, Kansas, and learned a lot there and did a lot at that zoo.
And then like I said, then the next piece was like, "You know, where I really wanna be is out in the prairie in Salina." And you know, the, the zoo here is completely private. It's its own nonprofit. We don't, uh, get taxpayer support like a lot of other zoos. And if I never have to g- go in front of a city council again to ask for something that I already had raised money for-
I'm okay with that. So I like that aspect as well. It gives us a lot of freedom out there to to work on our conservation programs and initiatives that we feel are important. But if a kid wants to be a zoo director my path is maybe somewhat unique. There are people that start as a zookeeper and become a supervisor and become the next thing and the next thing and then the next thing to zoo [00:17:00] director. There's a lot of zoo directors nowadays that are just have nonprof- leading nonprofit experience. You have lots of employees that are really good with the animals. So, you know, fundraising's very important. You d- you do have to know how to be fiscally responsible and manage budgets and things like that, maybe the, the less exciting part of the zoo world. You have to be able to manage really diverse teams. You know, we have, our animal care teams are, are by and large relatively young people in their, in their 20s starting their careers. We have some that have been around for a while. Our maintenance department is kind of another generation, you know, our at least largely.
Then we have a restaurant. You know, I never thought I'd have to oversee a restaurant my whole life. That's not... and we have a museum at the Rolling Hills Zoo, so, Yeah ... you just keep gaining skills over time. And I think it's more of a, "I have this goal in my life, and I'm gonna find the experiences that help me get to that goal."
And having really great mentors along the way is really important, too. At least it has been for me.
Leading People Like Animals
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Gus Applequist: So have you ever used your, your [00:18:00] experience training animals with your people.
Ryan VanZant: No. Nor my children or- Um, no, uh, all the time. Um- You know, if you really wanna influence people the best reinforcer is recognition in front of their peers.
So, you know, if you really want somebody to to do something a former employer of mine who I learned a lot of the training stuff from, made the example of, like, you know, you'd have a s- you have new seasonals every year, and seasonals, you know, it's a lot of learning and a lot of sweeping floors. And, you know, if that first week you catch that seasonal sweeping the floor, and at the next staff meeting you go, "You know what, Billy? You did a dang good job cleaning up in there, and that's really important here, and if you you know, you keep that up, you're gonna do... You know, if you keep that initiative up, you're gonna do really big things," and you say that in front of everybody, the rest of the summer that floor is gonna be spotless because those- Taking, taking notes
yeah, those ideas lock in.
Sydney Collins: Hey, [00:19:00] Julie, you're doing a really good job taking pictures. I really appreciate it. Merlin, you're doing a great job sitting back there looking at everything too.
Gus Applequist: We're just practicing-
Sydney Collins: Tanner's not here today ... what we're
Gus Applequist: learning.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. Tanner, if you're listening, you're doing great.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: There is, there is so much to talk about with you. I love it.
Rolling Hills Origin Story
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Gus Applequist: Can you, can you kind of go back to the beginning of Rolling Hills?
And I guess just as a preface, I have to tell a very brief story. In kindergarten, I got to go on a field trip- to what was then called Rolling Hills Refuge.
Yep. And it was, it was a barn- and there was all sorts of animals in it, and it was, it was so far removed from the zoo of today. Yeah, so can... I just rem- it was like a cold- Let's- ... winter day.
Sydney Collins: For those who don't know, Rolling Hills Zoo is in Salina, or at least Saline County.
It's still Salina, technically.
Yeah, still Salina. Yeah. I don't know if we've mentioned that at all.
Gus Applequist: But I just re- I just remember, like, all these exotic animal smell and this warm building. So can you describe, like, how that came about, and then and, and who Charlie Walker was?
Ryan VanZant: Well, the smells [00:20:00] are still there. So don't worry, that's part of the experience.
But well, Charlie, Charlie Walker was a, a local businessman, and from my understanding of the history of the place, he, he had Bril- show Belgian horses. And if you're coming to the zoo from town up the south side, the first thing you'll see is this enormous barn. And that's where he kept these Belgian horses.
And then he saw the need in town for the, the local children, and, you know, I assume the adults as well, but he saw the, the, the wonder and the need to build this education space for the, for these these animals. So, they liked seeing the horses when they came out, but then, you know, they added a bear, and they added a lion, and they added a giraffe over time. And you know, the interest continued to grow, and that's where the seeds of this idea to build what the Rolling Hills Zoo is today came from. and again, this was, you know, 26 years ago now is when the zoo started, and they started the project a little before that. So it came in... It's one of the newest zoos in the country- Yeah
to tell you the [00:21:00] truth, or one of the youngest anyways. Hmm. And, um, you know, they came in right on the leading edge of all these changes in the zoo world as far as the, you know, educational experiences and welfare and wellbeing of animals. So it's, uh, a really neat place to see that it's you know, its whole development came from that. But yeah, the kids started coming out, and then they looked across the pasture and realized we could build a zoo here. And w- we've had a few exhibits over the last few years of the creation of the zoo and some of the early maps and things. And it's really kinda neat to see how, uh, where some of the things were intended to be, some- where some of the things ended up, where some of the things still are. you know, now that we're 30 years in a lot of that stuff has, uh, lived its in- lived its life, and now we're reinventing it and, and moving to the next stages of this place.
Gus Applequist: Was it, was it painful for the organization to go from being this sort of loosely organized hobby to being a fully fledged nonprofit with accreditation and all of those things?
Ryan VanZant: Well, from my from what, the [00:22:00] stories I've been told and from what I've heard and from what I know, you know, Charlie Walker was not someone to do something on the, on the low end. You know? Everything he did was on the high end. Yeah. Um, they, there's stories, Bob Brown, the first zoo director, when I moved here, he's actually lived just a couple houses down from me.
Wow. Okay, that's funny. So I got to hear some of those stories, you know, where it was like, "Hey, Bob, we're getting in the helicopter today, and we're flying to this zoo in this place to learn about this." And, um, they did that fairly often from my understanding. And, I spoke to mentors. They had other zoo mentors come in and help them develop and guide and shape the place- Wow
so that that this wouldn't just be some roadside attraction. That this would be a destination i- in Salina and a known facility throughout the, you know, the country really.
Yeah. So, of course, turning a cattle pasture into a zoo comes with a lot of challenges. Yeah, I'm sure. Uh, you know, you have to lay all the electric and all the water and all the sewage and, um, you know, the more and more or the longer and longer I'm at this place It's one of the, [00:23:00] it's really one of the things that drew me here was the idea of we're gonna build this place, and then they did it. They didn't let anybody talk 'em out of it- ... or change their ideas or say that you have to get this firm from New York City to build it or whatever. It was just like, "We can do this," and then they did.
And that I like that a- approach well, I just, I respect that approach a lot to let's get this thing done, and let's do it really well.
Gus Applequist: And I, I know that s- just a unbelievably huge amount of that is due to the Walker family and their continued investment. And now other, other donors that have come alongside them to support it.
Sure. But
Ryan VanZant: Sure. The, the Walkers still are, um, very, uh, participate in the the success of the zoo. They don't participate in the running of the zoo or anything like that. They really appreciate that it has become its own thing. And and that, and that contributes to wanting to participate as well.
But we have a lot of wonderful donors and supporters in this community and beyond. It [00:24:00] just blows my mind where we get donations from, from across the country and even across the world at different times. Really? Um, yeah, the, the reach of this place is massive.
Funding and Conservation Work
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Ryan VanZant: you know, when Charlie passed away in 2012, I believe it was, uh, he had the foresight to, um, leave an endowment to make sure that the zoo exists into the future.
Yeah, that's brilliant. Yeah. So, so we're one of the very few zoos out there that can operate with this model that you know, we have an endowment and then our programming and our admissions and things like that are what pay the day-to-day cost of running a zoo, which are immense. but, um, then we have wonderful donors now that are, are helping with different projects and improvements in the zoo.
And we're really in a great place to to see this zoo, you know, many, many years into the future contributing to education and entertainment and conservation really. Um, if you've been following us lately, we've, uh, we had a baby anteater born, you know, which are [00:25:00] endangered. We had a baby rhino born recently. And you know, all these, these animals are ambassadors for their species, but they're also in a genetic way, they're an ark for their species too. We're keeping genetics strong and healthy so that, you know, in the wild, if those, you know, animals are disappearing all over the place and habitats disappearing all over the place, and, you know, every once in a while we start to get it right, like with the peregrine falcon or the bald eagle.
And we, as well as other accredited zoos, wanna make sure that we're positioned that when we humans get it right with certain animals and they need a little help, that we can participate there too. And these animals that we care for can build that that interest and that passion amongst the, you know, the citizens of Salina, but also the surrounding area or anyone that visits that they have that familiarity that they want to help these animals out in the wild. You know, biodiversity's a thing, and if we don't have biodiversity in the world, then we humans will ultimately suffer for it as well.
[00:26:00]
Inside the Museum
---
Gus Applequist: One of the oddest things, at least I've, I've never seen this at another zoo. Not that I've been to that many, but you have the museum. Oh, yeah. Can you describe w- what, what that is and how it came to be? 'Cause, 'cause it is
Sydney Collins: just- It's, it's such an interesting
Gus Applequist: museum ... and it w- well, it's a great thing for your business model too, because even on a rainy day, you can still get a really good
Sydney Collins: Yeah, that's the best part.
Ryan VanZant: Uh-huh.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. Like, "Oh, we can't go to the zoo today. But we can at least go to the museum."
Ryan VanZant: Well, it, it came about because, you know, how, how can you have [00:27:00] all the animals in one zoo, you know? So, you know, paraphrasing the story I heard was that Charlie said to his wife "I'm gonna go with Bob to look at a couple mounts and, uh, to put in the, you know, in the lobby of the zoo." And then from my understanding, it, it acquired a couple of museums worth of mounts, and then brought them back to town here.
And, uh, if I remember right, they stored them in, like, a, an old grocery store that had um, that was sitting empty for a while, and then they built the entire museum to fit these mounts. So the mounts were already- Huh ... in the poses they're in when they got here- Right ... and then they built all the rock structures and waterfalls and trees and everything to show these animals off in their kinda natural poses. And again, didn't do anything to the minimal, you know. There's- Yeah,
Gus Applequist: animatronics. Oh,
Ryan VanZant: yes. You
Gus Applequist: said waterfalls.
Ryan VanZant: Yes. Robots, waterfalls, sounds. It's a really incredible place. We have a play space in the back. There's conference centers and breakout rooms and gallery spaces. And [00:28:00] it's 65,000 square feet, roughly.
Sydney Collins: Like,
Ryan VanZant: it's big. Yeah. It's big. What...
Sydney Collins: That, it, that story is completely different from, like, the rumor mill.
Ryan VanZant: Uh-huh. Oh,
Gus Applequist: no.
Sydney Collins: So the story that I heard- Uh-oh ... and granted, this was, how long, how long ago? We can debunk this- I know. We could- ... once and for all, right here ... we can debunk it once and for all. When was that museum built, like 10 years ago, 15 years ago?
It opened, it
Ryan VanZant: opened in 2005.
Sydney Collins: Oh, gosh.
Ryan VanZant: 20 years
Sydney Collins: ago. I'm old. So it would've been- 2005, I gotta do math now. 12? Yeah, I'm
Ryan VanZant: 12,
Sydney Collins: yeah. 12? So what we heard was someone donated all of these mounts and all this, this collection, and the deal was that the collection had to be shown together. It couldn't be separated.
Gus Applequist: Oh.
Sydney Collins: Hmm. That's the story that I heard. And so, Charlie was like, "Sure, we'll do it," and then built a museum.
Gus Applequist: Hmm. Well-
Sydney Collins: That's the story I heard ... I think
Gus Applequist: we heard the definitive version just now.
Sydney Collins: So I'm glad to know the real version now- Well, there, there are- ... because I've been rumorning that for-
Ryan VanZant: Yeah ...
Sydney Collins: well, since 2005.
Ryan VanZant: There are a few mounts that have [00:29:00] come and gone through the years as well, but, um, we're not actively taking any more. We, we do get offered a lot of them. Wow. Um, but at, at this point, it is what it is. Yeah And, you know, some of the the ... There's been a few from other museums through the years that have kinda come and gone at different times.
Yeah. But but we're, we're committed to the collection that we have with that. Hmm. And then you know, in the future there might be some, some pretty neat upgrades coming down the line, but- Nice ... we're not quite ready to talk about that yet.
Christmas Lights Feedback
---
Sydney Collins: The, the fun part about the museum is you guys have been doing the Christmas lights during Christmas-
Where the whole museum is covered in, in Christmas lights, and you guys do hot cocoa, and- Yep ... there you get the giant snowball fights. And they have like You guys have stuff for the kids to do. My only thing- Okay ... if you could take any critic- criticism, if you don't mind me doing it.
Gus Applequist: Sydney's
coming in spicy today.
Sydney Collins: I'm coming in spicy. Put more lights where the bears and the giant animals are. Because to a tiny person going through that- ... with minimal lights and a bear going like this- Oh, is it
Gus Applequist: a little scary?
Sydney Collins: Our seven-year-old had-
Gus Applequist: Oh, no.
Sydney Collins: [00:30:00] Oh, it was rough.
Gus Applequist: Well, there
Sydney Collins: you go. It was not... So I'm just throwing that out there.
We'll just ... All right. It's scary for some kids. It might be
Ryan VanZant: a little easier- if we just, uh, rebrand it to Halloween then and ... Now there's an
idea.
Sydney Collins: that
would be great.
Ryan VanZant: Well, I will take note of that. And it, it is a con- it is a work in progress. We've only done it for two years now.
Holiday Lights Highlights
---
Ryan VanZant: But it
Gus Applequist: is a blast.
Ryan VanZant: And, uh- It is so
Gus Applequist: much fun ...
Ryan VanZant: I appreciate that. And you know, wintertime's a little slower at the zoo- so we wanted to get people out. And, uh, something that we felt really strongly about was that it's by a donation as well. Yeah. We wanted everyone in the community to be able to come out- Hmm and experience that fun time out there, see Santa Claus, and it, it's been really successful, and it continues to grow. And you know, we've got big plans for that in the future as well. Yeah. Glad you enjoy it. I love it. Except the bears. We'll-
Sydney Collins: Well-
Ryan VanZant: put a disclaimer. That
Sydney Collins: might scare. But then you get to see Santa, and you take pictures- Yeah
with Santa, and you have chili bar, and they have adult beverages that you can get.
We do. It's great. It's a fun time. We love going.
Tiger Falls Expansion
---
Gus Applequist: [00:31:00] So, y- you're, you're teasing there some of the changes that may be coming. Um, c- could you talk a little bit about Tiger Falls and, and sort of the effort to, to, you know, kind of keep up some of the exhibits and make them better out- outside as well?
Ryan VanZant: Absolutely. Uh, Tiger Falls came about couple of years ago. It was in our master plan to do some improvements to Tigers, but it wasn't very outlined at that point in time. It wasn't one of our biggest projects. But I was at a, an AZA zoo directors conference. Yes, they have those. And you know, we talk about policies and what's going on in the world, and what's going on with animals. And there's a challenge with, uh, animals, well, worldwide. You know, obviously we have these extinction crisises and, and animals are endangered and whatnot. But even within, the animals that are in human care community some of these populations aren't doing too great. And, uh, Amur tigers, which is the ones that we've traditionally had at the zoo used to be called Siberian tigers.
They're the largest species of cat, and males weigh like 500 pounds or something like that. Wow. [00:32:00] And there was a, a slide that showed that there was about 100 of these cats in AZA-accredited zoos, give or take, and that they were cli- declining by about 4% a year. And at that point in time, the Rolling Hill Zoo was on its, just past its 20-year anniversary, and that hit me really hard 'cause I was like, "Well, by the time we get to the next 20-year anniversary of the zoo, these, these cats may not exist in the, in zoos or in the world.
They might be completely gone." So, we had had some success breeding these tigers in the past, but our facility, uh, while it was adequate for happy, healthy tigers, it wasn't very great to when you had multiple baby tigers. Um, so we adjusted our master plan some to incorporate a new facility that that can hold these, you know, enormous tigers and, um, provide everything they need in their life to be happy, healthy, and thriving.
A- and part of that happy, healthy, and thriving is the ability to produce offspring. So, this new facility will be able to [00:33:00] hold like six, uh, six or seven tigers at any given time. That's not the plan. We won't- Yeah ... every day. We'll have a couple of adult tigers, and that, so that we can, um, provide a place for them to have cubs and watch those cubs grow and- So exciting
and play. And the new facility, I don't even remember how many times bigger it is than what we've, what we've had in the past. And it's going to have, you know, a, a waterfall, obviously Tiger Falls. Um, we're gonna have that, and, uh, tigers like to swim, so there's gonna be- Oh, wow ... I think the pool's like roughly like 25 by 25.
Oh my
Gus Applequist: God.
Ryan VanZant: And it's gonna be right in front of the glass viewing, so on those hot summer days like we're having right now- Yeah ... you should be able to see these cats splashing around in the water and having a good time. And, uh, it'll have more glass viewing. Again, it's quite a bit, quite a bit bigger along the way.
It's gonna have a whole new look and feel to that part of the zoo. So we're really excited about that. We've done our ceremonial groundbreaking. Dirt should start moving here in July, and then hopefully [00:34:00] around spring break or spring of next year that this will be opening up. And along with the tigers in this space, our snow leopards will be getting some improvements to their area, and then we're bringing in red pandas for the first time, too, so. Yay. Yeah. So that's gonna be really exciting to have these three Asian species that really love cold weather, too. So when you come in the wintertime, you know, you'll still be able to come out and see these guys probably when they're the happiest. Yeah. When there's snow on the ground is when those, those animals are really, really happy.
But it has all the you know, all the modern amenities to have them be happy in the summertime, too, and really excited about it. It's gonna be quite a change.
Viral Zoo Babies
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Gus Applequist: So you, you guys had a, a video go viral here in the last- Yeah ...couple weeks. That was pretty exciting.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Video of a baby anteater riding its mama's tail. Yeah. Um-
Ryan VanZant: That wasn't what I thought you were gonna say, but okay.
Gus Applequist: Okay, well- Well, we've had a couple ... please tell
Ryan VanZant: us- Yeah ...
Gus Applequist: tell us another one then.
Ryan VanZant: Okay. Well, the baby anteater is adorable, and that's the first anteaters we've had- Yeah ... born at the zoo. And they, you know, they ride around on their mother's [00:35:00] back, which is super cute, and they're like little, little images of their parents.
And, uh, you know, they're very curious and playing around, and that's been a lot of fun. But what I thought you were gonna talk about was our baby rhino, Creed. Yeah. Yeah. Because when he was born we said, "You know what? Rhinos are like big, tough linemen in the NFL. Let's reach out to Creed Humphrey from the Chiefs-" "the All-Pro OU alumni," football player, and, uh, just say, 'Hey, you know, we've got this baby rhino and, uh, we- we're thinking about naming him after you, if you have any interest in this at all.'" And they came back right away- Oh, sure ... with interest. And then a couple weeks later, Creed and his his girlfriend came out to the zoo.
They were gonna spend about a half hour with us and the rhino. They spent like the whole afternoon walking around- Nice ... with us, and then that was picked up by the NFL Network and- Oh, really? ... the Chiefs- Oh, I didn't realize that ... the Chiefs picked it up. The Chiefs picked it up. And the national news picked it up.
Nice. And, uh, yeah, it carried all over the place. And then we're still in contact with the, the Chiefs organization and, and Creed. And you know, as we get into the football season here too, I [00:36:00] think maybe-
Sydney Collins: Please tell me Creed's going to the Chiefs stadium.
Gus Applequist: Sydney has lots of ideas.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah, well.
Sydney Collins: I have lots of ideas.
You know. I wanted Creed
Ryan VanZant: to come to the zoo, but- That's one of those other, uh, zoo director traits of like- Yeah ... how do you tamp down the ideas that aren't gonna happen? Yeah. But, uh, you know, lit- little Creed, uh, born at, uh, like 180 pounds or something like that. Man. Now weighs probably close to 8 or 900 pounds- Oh my gosh, yeah
and, and growing, so. Wow. Yeah, he's growing fast. That's incredible. If you haven't seen him, you gotta get out there and- Yeah ... check him out. He's a riot, too. It's just like, it's just like a puppy. You know, we've given him Chief's footballs, and he kicks them around and throws them- and plays with them. And he gets the zoomies, and then he just tired and out on the ground, you know? So it's, it's really very little that's more adorable than a baby rhino.
Gus Applequist: It's, it's fun.
Animal Welfare Decisions
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Gus Applequist: One of the things videos like, like these sort of highlight for me is that there's sort of like a community within the zoo- of like these different animals and you know, it's, it's, it's vibrant obviously. And a lot of the stories that, that like we hear in the public, if you're [00:37:00] not going to the zoo every day, you may hear- Mm
on KSAO locally if, if you live here in Salina- Mm either, you know, there's been a baby born or, or unfortunately somebody has passed.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: And so I'm just curious, like- Obviously, it's a difficult decision, I'm sure, anytime you let, let an animal go. But, but what goes into those decisions? And then sort of separately, what is it like managing the relationships and attachment the public has with the animals that you have?
Oh, that's a good
Sydney Collins: question.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah, it is a good question. And it's not easy, that's for sure. You know, our, our keepers, all of our staff gets attached to all of the animals. And you know, life and death decisions are made by professionals, and, uh, they're quality of life decisions. You know, y- like our beloved pets, you know, it's the same type of thing. It's the last resort. It's never the first resort or the middle resort. It's when everything else has been tried. And many of the animals that have lived at Rolling Hills Zoo have lived well beyond the average lifespan of these anim- the animals typically have. So, so that's something [00:38:00] that, you know, in a, in a way we can hang our hat on, that, you know, we're providing them a life where they're happy and healthy for for years.
And there's two parts to animal, uh, welfare and wellbeing. The welfare is kind of the science part of how do you know if an animal's doing well. We do assessments regularly the keepers, the curator staff, the volunteers, management staff. It's not even just the animal people, it's other people as well.
And you know, we track the animals' behaviors over time. So we can review that and we can say, you know, we can see that something changed. 'Cause a lot of, even with your pets, you know, you have them for A dog for 13 years and, uh, you know, over time it's like, "Oh, he's always that way." But, well, he always didn't sleep that much when he was younger, and you just can't notice those things unless you keep those kind of records.
So there's that part of it that is, like, more the science part, the inputs and outputs, and then there's the, um, the wellbeing part that is the more professional opinion. You know, how does this relate to what animals would be doing in the [00:39:00] wild? How much of their exhibit space are they using? You know, are they only in, are they only on this log all the time, or do they use every bit of their exhibit? You know, we do e- enrichment with animals, things to simulate natural behaviors in the wild. You know, animals in the wild will, you know, like a dog or a cat, will play with a stick sometimes, you know, when, especially when they're young. So there's many of those things that we do as well. And that's how we kind of, uh, monitor these animals to make sure that they're doing well.
And if they're not doing well or if we have a welfare concern, um, we react to that. And, you know, hopefully we're being proactive most of the time, but there are times where something changes. Then, uh, sometimes it's, needs veterinary assistance, which we do have a vet hospital right at the zoo and, and veterinarian. Um, sometimes it's, uh, modifying the exhibit. Sometimes it's working to modify the behavior. But every day is, is different, and every season is different. So, um, to manage these hundreds of animals takes a strong team of professionals that are very good at [00:40:00] their jobs. And, uh, that's how we can monitor and follow and assure that these animals are happy and healthy. Yeah Let's see, what was the other piece of that? Oh, the public attachment to them Yeah, yeah That depends too on the different animals, you know, the megafauna, the rhinos and the giraffes, you know, and typically get more of the public attention than some of the, what, what may be even more of the interesting things sometimes Uh, depending on who you talk to.
Um, and it, it is a challenge. It's always a challenge to communicate enough and to communicate the right things. You know, we're, we always are transparent and, um, with what's going on on major events. We're not, not transparent on smaller events on the day-to-day, but it is c- it's always a challenge to decide what is interesting, I guess, to go out there and, and keep people's interest and hold people's interest to the different types of animals and their, uh, ties to the zoo. But there are some decisions though that no matter how much the public i- the animal's beloved by the public, we still gotta do what's best for the animals and best for the [00:41:00] species at times. So, many of our animals, are part of what's called a species survival plan SSPs, and, that's where we work with other zoos to move these animals around so that they can meet that part of their happiness and healthiness of the ability to breed.
And, you know, we, we want those population to be genetically strong. we don't want, like, inbreeding and things like that. So, for instance, uh, one of our chimps, uh, Millie, who's lived at the zoo for many years and is probably one of the more beloved chimps, she's going to be moving to another AZA zoo in the next couple of weeks because she's at that age where she sh- she should be starting a chimp family or being, uh
And all of our chimps aside from her, are elderly and, uh, geriatric. So- Hmm ... um, while we love her and, you know, many in the public love her, the right thing to do is to get her with co-specific chimps that are in the same age group that they can that she can interact with and live that, that fulfillment in her life [00:42:00] as well.
So, so there are decisions that are made that while the public may not love it or our public may not love it, it is what's best f- for the animal. Um, so we have to make those decisions too. So, it's not always fun.
Gus Applequist: I'm sure. I'm sure okay.
Future of Modern Zoos
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Gus Applequist: I just, I just have a few questions here to wrap up.
Ryan VanZant: Okay.
Gus Applequist: Will, will zoos change significantly in the next few decades?
And if so, what, what are the trends?
Ryan VanZant: I believe some things will and some things won't. There's always trends in the sci- well, that's not a trend in the, the science piece of it, but we always learn more, and the more we learn, the better we can do. And then there's the trends of the public sentiment as well. And I find zoos still perform very strongly across, especially in the United States. It's still, they're still very popular. Many, many, many, many millions of people spend billions of -dollars, uh, in zoos. You know, you wanna have a good time with your family, but you're learning when you're there.
These animals are being ambassadors for their species. I kinda tell this story a lot [00:43:00] of my childhood. My grandfather, in particular my grandparents took us to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo regularly, you know? And every time I was there, you know, I saw giraffes, and, like, I knew they were alive. You know, I could see them walking around and breathing and, uh, I don't think you could feed giraffes back then really, but, you know, you, you saw them, and it was like, "Wow, it's a big animal." But then, um, you know, as life went on and I got to see giraffes out in the wild, you're like, it changes everything. Like- you're like, I cared about this. I knew it was real. But then when you see it just walking around the same as a white-tailed deer here in- in our backyards, it really hits you different.
You're like, this- this thing should live out here. This thing, it's made to live out here without any, any interference from humans or any help from humans. It should just be fine, but it's not. So, if I didn't have that experience with the, the start with zoos and making that connection to these animals in the wild, that I don't know that I'd realize the importance of the education aspects, the growing the passion aspects, and just the, the [00:44:00] science that is done in, uh, zoological institutions to, um, contribute to, to breeding and welfare and knowing what behaviors we're seeing in the wild.
And, um, uh, zoos have been on a trend of that for a long time, a lot more in the research world as well as you know, just being a entertainment venue. I don't think there's a zoo out there that would say, like, that's their primary function. I think it's a- It's a primary function in a secondary way of what the zoo's mission and goals are because we d- we do very little t- just to make the public happy at the zoo.
We do most things to make the animals happy and the public then is happy as well. Is, it's a nice little connection there. But there is always the, the challenges of there's a lot of weight behind the word sanctuary. Whereas many sanctuaries are fantastic and many sanctuaries are underfunded and really can't keep up with the, the needs of the animals in a way that an accredited zoo can.
So, d- I don't see the, [00:45:00] I don't see zoos going away, but I see their, roles in the scientific community and in the education community, and in the you know, saving, helping to save animals from extinction and realize why biodiversity important. I see that role growing and growing and growing within zoos and, and zoos like ourselves putting more and more time and effort and resources into those things.
Saving the Prairie
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Gus Applequist: I have one more kinda meaty question- and then just a few wrap up. You, you mentioned earlier in, in our pre-interview questionnaire with you that you're passionate about conserving prairie ecosystems and the species that inhabit them.
And so I guess there's sort of two questions here.
First, on the, like, the prairie ecosystem level-
what role, if any, do you see the Rolling Hills Zoo playing in such efforts? And then obviously, you've already talked about conservation more broadly- but that's sort of the second piece. Yeah.
Ryan VanZant: Well, grassland ecosystems are, there's only 4% of the original grassland ecosystems left. 4%. And like, you know, we're in central Kansas. We're like, there's grass everywhere you see, but [00:46:00] that's not all native prairie anymore either. And Kansas has more native prairie than any other state but it's still declining very, very rapidly. And the prairies in Kansas and the savannas of Africa are not all that different, but we tend to put a lot more focus onto the savannas of Africa than we do right here in our, our own backyards.
And, uh, I always find that interesting. I, I used to do a lot of education programs with birds, and in one of those programs, I would show a video of a prairie chicken dancing and doing its thing. And if you haven't seen that before, they stomp their feet, and they have these air sacs that blow up that are bright orange.
And, you know, they live right around Salina. And I'd, I'd show that video to school kids in Oklahoma and Kansas, and then I would follow it with, "Where do you think that animal's found?" And they would name everywhere in the world except right here. And I just found that very disappointing that you know, we put so much focus on what's in Africa or South America or Australia, and then we don't even recognize the beautiful things right in our own backyards. Take a [00:47:00] blue jay, for instance. If you take a second and look at a b- blue jay, they are beautiful. There's like several different shades of blue, striking black and white, and they make these weird noises, and they do all these strange behaviors. Most people don't even notice them because they're just around all the time, you know?
So, the fact that these grassland ecosystems are, have disappeared and are disappearing so quickly birds from grassland ecosystems are disappearing faster than any other ecosystem in the world. Even, you know, most people would think it's the rainforest, but and truth be told, many of our grassland birds that are here in the summer go to the rainforest in the winter and then come back up here. And there's all these speci- you know, bison used to roam right through here, and and antelope and elk and all these species that we just, you know, feel exotic to us now that at one point in time dominated this landscape. And, uh, you know, I just have a fear of this really important ecosystem just blinking out. My almost 20 years of working in the tallgrass prairies o- [00:48:00] or being in them on a daily basis You frankly just see less and less of... Uh, I'm, I'm a bird person, so I come back to that a lot. But, um, like shrikes are a really neat bird. They're called a butcher bird as well. They're a, they're a type of songbird, but they eat insects and rodents, and they'll hang them on s- on thorn bushes traditionally. A- When they catch stuff. Yeah, they're called the butcher bird for that. And they'll also hang them on, um, barbed wire, like on barbed wire fences. It's like the
Sydney Collins: serial killer of birds.
Ryan VanZant: It is. They even have a black mask. But, uh, 15, 20 years ago, I'd see them daily, and, you know- Wow ... you could walk, you could walk along a barbed wire fence and see grasshoppers- Two meters hung along the barbs. And last winter, I spent, you know, I spent every day out in the tallgrass prairie and I only saw two all winter long, and I used to see them daily. And it's just little things like that that you know, we're seeing less and less of. And, you know, pretty soon it's the birds you care a lot more about that's, that really start disappearing or the animals.
You know, it's, it's all connected. And [00:49:00] as, uh, some of the lesser recognized things start to disappear, then it's not too long before the bigger things disappear. And then, uh, we humans, we're part of this world too, and at some point it's gonna affect us in a strong way as well. So, to me, the grasslands are this, this point that yeah, that it's, it just doesn't get the attention that it needs and deserves, and that's just the animal side of it.
Then there's all the benefits of having these plants with their really long roots and their carbon capturing. And yeah.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, roots right there.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah. Yeah. They're really long roots. Um, you know, and there's, uh, all this, there's, there's probably s- more benefit than we could ever know because a lot of that's already been lost.
Very similar to how a rainforest, uh, you know, cures to diseases have been found and things like that. and that's in the rainforest, and we're very concerned about that, but, you know, we have 4% of the prairie left, so how, what of that 96% that we lost have we, do we miss now that we didn't even know about?
I mean, shoot, there was a parrot that lived in the prairies in the early 1900s. [00:50:00] Carolina parakeet, thousands and thousands of them used to be dominate the landscape, and they've been extinct now for 100 years.
Gus Applequist: Every once in a while, somebody says something in the podcast that just
Sydney Collins: Well, it's like you never knew.
Ryan VanZant: Or, um, or the, the passenger pigeon as well. You know? Oh, yeah. There used to be by the accounts, there used to be billions that would fly over in waves for days when they'd fly across the prairie. And, um- Now none. So, you know, how do you go from billions to none is one of those things that kind of makes my skin crawl, like the-
Gus Applequist: Yeah
Ryan VanZant: the thought of that. So, uh, and I'd like to see no more of none.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah.
Events and Visiting Tips
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Gus Applequist: Well, on a more positive note-
um, could you tell us just a little about what's coming up at the zoo and how people can get involved?
Ryan VanZant: Uh, well, we've always got things going on at the zoo. Um, you know, we've got a lot of really wonderful events that are really known and popular, like Zoo Brew.
Uh, Zoo Brew's a fun night. Zoo Brew is a lot of fun. Uh-huh, yep. One night it poured down rain and no one left. That's how fun it is. And as you had [00:51:00] mentioned earlier, our, our holiday lights, uh, program is coming up, but we have a lot of other small things too. We have safari breakfasts where you can have your breakfast and uh, get to learn more about animals.
We have bird walks that you can sign up for where you can, uh, walk around with bird watchers in the know that can help point out different, uh, birds -that are in the zoo. We, we have things for a diversity of people too. We have silent Sundays where we, we turn off all the waterfalls and the robots in the museum for, um, for people who have sensory challenges or- Oh, that's so cool
little kids that are scared. So they can come in a little bit early on those Sunday mornings and walk the museum and it's silent in there. that's something that we've done as well. Um, we booted back up our Taste of Adventure, which is really... That's probably my favorite event because we have someone come in and talk about a conservation project that they've worked on, and then we match up food from that area- Oh, cool
with, uh, with it. So like this year was about the Guam kingfisher, so we had Guamese [00:52:00] food, or Guamanian, I can't remember which one. But, um, you know, which, which, uh, sounds very exotic, but really it's kinda like- Yeah ... barbecue. But um, but each year we, we've, uh, re- rebooted that and that's just a really neat event where you can kinda sample some foods that you wouldn't have on a daily basis and, uh, hear about some really incredible conservation projects.
So there's always something happening. You can check out our social media or our, our webpage, and, uh, see what- fun events we have up on the horizon.
Sydney Collins: Are you guys participating in Sunflower Summer?
Ryan VanZant: We are participating in Sunflower Summer as well. So, uh, that's coming up. if you're not familiar with that, if you have a student in Kansas, uh, you can download this app, and then you can get into the zoo with them for free, as well as many, many other cultural attractions in Kansas.
So, I would definitely take advantage of that if I- if my kids were of that age anymore. Um-
Sydney Collins: It's a, it is the best thing- that w- we use it all the time.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: We planned a family vacation around it.
Ryan VanZant: Yeah, staycations are [00:53:00] wonderful. Yeah. Yep.
Gus Applequist: And speaking of vacation, like if you're planning a trip across Kansas, either if you're going from Wichita to Denver or- or Hays to Kansas City, this is such a great place to stop. It's, it- Yeah ... it can feel like it's a ways off the interstate, but it's really not. It's not. It's just a coup- mile, right? A mile, two? Oh, yeah. Something like that. Maybe a
Ryan VanZant: mile, yeah.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, very close to the interstate. And, and- rarely is it overcrowded.
You can- Oh,
Sydney Collins: yeah.
Gus Applequist: Very
Sydney Collins: true,
Gus Applequist: yeah. Yeah. '
Sydney Collins: Cause it's, there's so much space, and- Yeah ... there's great walking paths. It's all paved. Yeah. It's-
Gus Applequist: So get out of
Sydney Collins: the car ... you can even hop on the tram- Covered wagon tram ... if you wanna do-
Ryan VanZant: Absolutely ...
Sydney Collins: the zoo that way.
Ryan VanZant: It is very well-named. We have some hills. Yeah. But, uh, we have several ways to make it accessible- Yeah
between our trams or the Scooter Pals. Yeah. If you haven't rented a Scooter Pal, you're missing out. Uh, it's a little, uh, plush animal- Yeah ... that you can drive around the zoo. Um, everyone from, uh, littler kids to- those of us who are very experienced in life, uh- Uh, driving those- That's a great time
around the zoo is a lot of fun. Great time.
Gus Applequist: So,
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for taking time- Yeah, yeah ... to be on the [00:54:00] podcast today. Thank you. Thanks for
Ryan VanZant: joining. Thanks for having me out. I appreciate it.
Sydney Collins: Hope you enjoyed uh, that conversation with Ryan and you learned a lot about falconry and birds and the zoo.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. I think, I think we could learn even more about falconry at some point, but
Sydney Collins: I will not. That will be in the episode that I am on maternity leave.
Gus Applequist: I love, um, Tanner's been saying recently as we've talked about different guests we've had on- Yeah
and guests that are coming just when, when you tap into someone's [00:55:00] passion- Oh, yeah ... to see them come alive, and and there are several moments where I just felt like, you know, Ryan- Yeah ... Ryan could have told us a lot
Sydney Collins: Yeah ...
Gus Applequist: more than he did.
Sydney Collins: Very much so.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Hmm.
Sydney Collins: I also wanna know how you get a gig, like, in Orlando training birds.
Like, what is the job description for that? Like, is that something you find on Indeed?
Gus Applequist: Is it, like, business-fied, where it's like, you need to have experience working with flighty people? Or, you know, like Like, they try to disguise it as something it's not. I don't know.
Sydney Collins: Oh, goodness. That is actually pretty funny.
That's a good question.
Stories from the Hat
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Gus Applequist: Well- All right ... uh, our segment, we are gonna pull out our handy-dandy-
Sydney Collins: Hat ...
Gus Applequist: hat once again. Stories
Sydney Collins: from a
Gus Applequist: Hat. This is, this is our second time doing a new segment called Stories from the Hat. Yeah. Yeah. And so, uh, yeah, for our audience, these are just random prompts and, and whatever random neurons in our head bang together-
Sydney Collins: Yep
Gus Applequist: that's what we talk about. Well,
Sydney Collins: we're gonna do, so whoop. [00:56:00] All right. Um- Oh, okay. A regular, the person you always seem to see around town I'm gonna have to think about this one now. I feel like I see a lot of people.
Gus Applequist: I'll-
Sydney Collins: That's the-
Gus Applequist: I could- Do you have one? Like, well, like Tanner. Like, if, if you live in Salina and you are ever- Oh, yeah outside, you're just like, "Oh, there's Tanner. Oh, hey, look, there's Tanner."
Sydney Collins: Yeah. "
Gus Applequist: Oh, there's Tanner."
Sydney Collins: Oh, I feel like that with Renee too.
Gus Applequist: Oh,
Sydney Collins: yeah, that's true. Like Renee, um, with the chamber.
Even just yesterday we just saw her randomly getting out of her truck. Poor, poor Renee, she can't even get out of her vehicle without someone tracking her down. So...
Gus Applequist: A song that has to be played loud with the windows down.
Sydney Collins: Oh.
Gus Applequist: Um, there's a lot of good answers to this. I'll go with Bohemian Rhapsody. I, it's just a, it's a, it's a favorite.
Sydney Collins: I was gonna go Riding Nerdy.
Gus Applequist: Oh, yeah. Yeah, Weird Al all the time. Weird
Sydney Collins: Al.
Gus Applequist: All the time.
Sydney Collins: Oh, good. Oh, goodness, a hotel lobby you'd hang out in even [00:57:00] if you weren't staying there I would probably, I, probably not a hotel that I've ever stayed in, but my guess would be anywhere that's, like, in Hollywood or, like- Hmm ... where the stars would stay.
Gus Applequist: Hmm. '
Sydney Collins: Cause then you could just people watch. Or stalk- There you go ... if you're, depending on what you're there for. Anyway.
Gus Applequist: That's a good answer. Ooh. A roller grill or convenience store order you'd actually defend.
Sydney Collins: Oh, I know these.
Gus Applequist: Um, okay, go for it.
Sydney Collins: Okay, mine's, uh, like, the QuikTrip rollers with the taquitos. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Gus Applequist: The only thing I've found with those is there's a waiting period. You buy it, and then you must wait. Yeah. If you don't wait, you will pay with burns.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. Those things are really hot.
Gus Applequist: Okay, let's, let's-
Sydney Collins: Oh, Casey's pizza.
Gus Applequist: Oh yeah, Casey- I, okay, I have to tell the story, then. So we, m- my wife and I went to an event at Bethany College in Lindsborg years ago. It was like a smorgasbord- Yeah ... [00:58:00] thing. Smorgasbord. And we were paired with, there were some, some students at our table, and they were telling us about this, this pizza that they get in Lindsborg that's, like, the best pizza they've ever had. They were from, like, LA. You know, they'd, they'd had... Not saying LA's, like, known for its pizza, but they, you know, they had access to plenty of pizza. They had access to
Sydney Collins: other pizza.
Gus Applequist: And they were, like, evangelizing to the world about Casey's pizza. And I was like, "Even with the grease?" And they're like, "Even with the grease."
Sydney Collins: Okay, that's funny. I did get food poisoning from Casey's pizza, though, one time. Now that I remember. Yeah. That was not a good day.
Gus Applequist: That's-
Sydney Collins: Oh, a neon sign still hanging in town. Do we have neon signs still hanging in town?
Gus Applequist: the only one I can think of that's long gone now, but in the old Sonic, before they got rid of Sonic- Oh, yeah
they used to have one that lit up.
Sydney Collins: Does Midwest Music's, does their little clarinet thing light up? Don't they have a giant thing? I think
Gus Applequist: it might. Yeah, that's [00:59:00] right.
Sydney Collins: Oh, or Vernon Jeweler's, don't they have one?
Gus Applequist: Yep. Now we're gonna have to go down to this is moving- I'm gonna have
Sydney Collins: to just drive downtown.
Gus Applequist: The one thing you'd grab on the way out of a burning house.
Sydney Collins: Oh.
Gus Applequist: I I think, um, well the answer used to be photos, but now photos live on phones. So I think, Oh man, that's hard. Do you have any answers, though?
Sydney Collins: Yeah, my lockbox. It has all the Social Security cards-
the birth certificates. I've got multiple kids, I'm not doing all that paperwork again.
Gus Applequist: Someone has thought this through. I'll just say, um, one of my favorite-
Sydney Collins: Obviously the pets, but
Gus Applequist: One of my favorite songs is from the band Switchfoot, and, um, it's, it's, it's a song about this premise of like If the house burns down tonight-
Sydney Collins: Yeah
Gus Applequist: like I've got everything I need with me right by my side, and it's like your family. And it's so nice. It's so sweet. Okay. Oh.
Podcast Wrap and Thanks
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Gus Applequist: I think that brings us to the end- Yeah ... of another episode of Ask a Kansan. Thank you for tuning in.
Sydney Collins: [01:00:00] make sure to vis- visit us at askakansan.com.
Check out the Curious Kansas newsletter. Please sign up for it. Check out the merch. We've got water bottles and T-shirts and stickers. Eventually we will not be busy and be able to develop some more fun stuff to put on there.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, shout out to, to the listeners. We've increasingly had people telling us they listen and- Yeah what a, what a wind in our sails kind of moment that is to encounter someone in the wild who listens.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. We just did a golf tournament. We li- we like help sponsor a golf tournament. We were working one of the holes, and Julie and I and Tanner were working it, and Tanner had to take me back to my car on the golf, on the golf cart, and we had a listener stop by. And he was so sad that Tanner and I had just left. We're like, "Oh, I'm so sorry." So we found him afterward- ... and gave him a T-shirt. And I was like, "I'm so sorry we weren't there."
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: But anyway, yeah.
Gus Applequist: Well, thanks for tuning in, and hope you have a great
uh, rest of your week.
Sydney Collins: Bye
[01:01:00]