Q&A with Matt Thompson

September 23, 2026 | Matt Thompson, President and CEO of the Memphis Zoo, shares his personal Christian faith journey and how it shapes his leadership and daily work. He discusses the significance of practicing the fruit of the Spirit in the workplace, maintaining an eternal perspective, and reliance on prayer amidst professional challenges. The episode includes engaging insights on zoo conservation efforts and practical encouragement for Christians to live out their faith faithfully in any vocation.

Show Notes

Ozzy Wei sits down with Matt Thompson, President and CEO of the Memphis Zoo. They discuss Matt's time as the leader of the zoo along with how his Christian faith has continued to guide him through his career.

What is Adult Singles Ministry?

Various midweek classes on wednesday nights

I want to invite Matt up here. Can we thank Matt for being here with us tonight? And Matt, the mic's on here. Matt, just to get us started, could you just share with everybody your story, how you came to know the Lord? I know you don't have to cover the past, like, 50 years, but just like a snapshot of how you came to know the Lord, how you came to Bellevue, family, all that. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, everybody, for having me. I came to know the Lord at a very young age. And with my mom, I still vaguely remember it. But what I consider the time when I actually decided to actively follow Jesus, I grew up going to a Christian camp over the summer. I was actively involved in a camp ministry. And so there was one particular series that the pastor that week was talking about, and he was going through a pilgrim's progress. And some of you might have done that. An incredible book. I found it incredibly convicting. And it was at that point that I think that I really understood the need, the burden that we carry and how we need to give that to Jesus. So that's how I came to know the Lord. I grew up in camp ministry, got to serve later. And that's how I met my wife. And so I think very fondly about camp ministry. Tell us about your kids. Oh, man, how long do you have? We have four kids, blessed with three boys and a girl. They range 23, 21, and then 15 and 13. And they are all amazing. We have one in Nashville, the rest are here, and they're all doing great. And you were sharing with me, your youngest is adopted. That was a great story. Would you mind sharing with us? Sure. So we did adopt a little girl from China. And people hear that we have three boys and a little girl, and you just had to have that little girl. And that was not at all the story and how it went. We had, Ashley was, well, we had one son, Ashley was pregnant with our second son when we first inquired, didn't know it, if I remember right. I don't know if time runs right or not. But we inquired, we were too young at the time to adopt. At the time, China required you to be between 30 and 50. And so we had to wait a little bit. And then we had our second son, we decided to go ahead and move forward with the adoption. We were told that it would be maybe a year wait, maybe two. It ended up being seven. And there was a lot going on that we didn't know about behind the scenes at that time. They have since stopped adoptions from China. But in that seven years, we had a surprise number three little boy. So our family was growing quickly. But that ended up being a true, his name is true. How'd you laugh? Godsend. Because he, first of all, he's a super social kid. But Ellie Kay, who's the little girl, they are best friends. He was the first little thing almost to greet her when we got off the plane with her. He was not able to go to China. And they have been best friends ever since. And it's just so neat. A little side story that I told Ozzy is we adopted her, she was 10 months old. By the time we got home, she was 11 months old. And we found out that the orphanage that was way out in the middle of very rural part of China, she had a caretaker who kind of served as her foster mom, would actually take her home. That's not necessarily normal, along with a handful of other children to kind of give them some semblance of home, which we still feel is a real blessing, and could be part of the reason she's adapted so well. But I was really worried about bringing her home to a household full of boys. For those of you who've been around, boys are a little rowdy. And, you know, this little bitty girl, and I just didn't know what to expect. And we found out, first of all, she could really hold her own. But we found out about five months later that she had been going home with this foster mom, and that the other five or six children that she brought home were all boys. And we just felt really like we were, and we know this to be true, she was the one that we were supposed to have. This was the arrangement she was supposed to be in, where she would be most comfortable. And she continues to be just amazing. Her brothers love her to death. She loves her brothers, and she just thinks it's a boy's world, and she's part of it, so. Thank you for sharing, Matt. And how long have you and Ashley been coming to Bellevue? Twenty-something years, do you know? Twenty-five years. Twenty-five years, yeah. When we moved to Memphis, we were scared to death of Bellevue. We both grew up in very, very small churches. The crosses, you may, some of you know this, some of you don't, the crosses were not always up. And so when we drove past here, the first time I came to Memphis, I thought this was a convention center or a hotel. And then I heard it was a church, I was like, yeah, you gotta be kidding me. And then it was towards the end of Dr. Rogers' tenure here, but we heard him on the radio. And we were like, wow, something else. We just listened to him, and we were like, we've got to go check this out. So we snuck in the back and listened and left, you know, that kind of thing. But then we got involved in a life group, and the rest is history. So grew up in a very small church, but have been here for a long time and love it. Great, great. We're glad to have you guys. You all are faithful members. So let's talk about your role at the zoo. I know you weren't always leading the zoo to the capacity you are. What was your story? How did you fall in love with animals, working with them, and then step into this role you're in right now? I knew I always wanted to do something with animals. My father, interestingly, was a dog trainer for the police department in Nashville. And I kind of grew up observing that, helping him with that, actually, which is pretty neat, and was fascinated at the relationship between people and animals. I thought I wanted to be a vet for quite a while. I was also very business-minded. I was always kind of entrepreneurial, had several little businesses by the time I was 16, 18 years old. And so I kind of had a, I don't know, unique interest in both worlds, but started off kind of the biology vet route, thinking that's the way I wanted to go. We got married at a very young age, at 20, and ended up moving to Memphis, because that's where Ashley's a pharmacist. That's where the only pharmacy school in the state at the time was. And so the plan was to move to Memphis the day she graduated and moved back to Nashville. Which is where I was from. And here we are 31 years later. But I knew Memphis had a great zoo, and I was really interested in animals. Wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, but was very drawn to those type of animals. And so that's, I got on there, got hired on there successfully as a seasonal zookeeper, which is about as low as you can get. So it's a temporary job, it's just for the summer. And I was like, you know, if I'm going to make this work, gosh, I've got to work hard. So that's a job where you're literally digging holes and building fences and scooping poop and just all the things, not knowing if you're going to have a job later. So I'm very thankful that I was hired on and just kind of went from there. So I was able to apply some of the training skills that I'd worked on with my dad. But really, it's about, I told Ozzie this, about half the battle these days is just showing up and working hard. But that's really what it was about. Like, I really was intrigued. I got interested in leadership and management along the way. And just, God was faithful to me every time. We'll talk about that later. Every time I needed something, really, I was promoted. And so I've been able to stay at the same zoo here in Memphis my whole career, which is very unusual. So usually people that are interested in the seat I'm in now move around quite a bit because there's only so many positions and only so many accredited zoos. So I'm super thankful to be in the seat I'm in. Just curious, how many animal people do we have in the room? Animal pets, anything like that? Okay. Fair amount. Majority. Friendly crowd. Do you have a favorite animal, Matt? Oh gosh. Favorite animal. You're not supposed to ask me that because I like them all. Do you have a least favorite? Let's start with favorite. I like them all. Actually, my friends joke around like, oh, is this your favorite? Oh, is that also your favorite? Because I'm always talking about how cool animals are. But if I had to pick one, it might be elephants. They're amazing. Super smart. Everything about them is breathtaking. Okay. Amazing. Now, for the tenure you've had at the zoo, there had to have been some moments or stories that rise to the top. Like when you look back at your time there- I wrote down topics just so I don't forget. Yeah. I'm sure you had to narrow that down. This could go on for a long time. I'll quickly mention. So giant pandas were part of my story. That was how I kind of really formally moved into management. I was kind of given that. That was a big part of my job was getting ready for that to happen. Helping with the, actually even exhibit design, which is a fun part. But I got to go to China to get the pandas. I was on that plane. Some of you will remember when they flew here.

So that was quite the trip. I did work with elephants for a long time. And while they're my favorite, lots of stories there, my wife is, before her, my mother, extremely patient and allowing me to have things in the house. So used to help hand raise animals, have had a baby orangutan in the house, a porcupine, I've had several things. We have had several well-known people come to the zoo. So just going way back, one of the most famous people was Michael Jackson. So when he was married to Lisa Marie, there was, that actually happened, Ozzie. That was- I don't know who you're talking about. Right, right, they're famous people. And they came to the zoo and that was just an example. Newt Gingrich, he's a big zoo fan and he wanted to hang out, that was fun. Some of the grizzlies come to the zoo. John Morant, when he was here, we had a giraffe named Ja Raph and he came and met that giraffe and his family came and that was before all of the trouble. And when that male giraffe named Ja Raph made a lot of headlines and we thought that was really clever. But the day that he, I mean, you only need one male. So in the wild, when a male giraffe grows up, the dad goes, this is the truth with a lot of hoof stock, the dad goes, you know what? It's time for you to go away and find your own set of ladies. And so then it's time to move him on to another zoo as part of a planned breeding program. And so we decided to send him to Utah's Hoagle Zoo. Well, ESPN got a hold of that and it was during draft time. Some of you, here's somebody nodding. So they thought it would be funny to send out a tweet that says Ja traded to Utah. And that was at the height of John Morant's popularity, no issues yet. And so we got all kinds of flack about that. So when you click on it, it was a link to the zoo. So it's like the giraffe was traded to the Utah Zoo. So that was pretty funny. And then finally, one of the most dramatic things that's happened was when I first started working there, it was kind of like welcome to the zoo world. We actually had a disturbed individual jump in with the tigers. So he jumped into the exhibit and swam across the moat and just stood up in the middle of the tiger exhibit. He was attacked, we saved him, he was fine. The cats were fine, he was fine. He just learned a valuable lesson that day. And he was fortunate to still be alive. But yeah, got many stories, but that's just a sampling. Okay, thank you. I wanna give you a chance to catch your breath here. In this room, so we have people of many different occupations, nurses, teachers. I mean, I can just go on and on and on. And growing up for me, just for the 10 years I've been alive, the church for me has been really weekend focused. Like I go to church on Sundays or I only do the youth group thing at a certain amount of time. I was never really taught to take my faith like into the school system or really anything outside of the church building. And so I think the value of having you here is really showing us, you wouldn't say you're perfect at it, I don't imagine, but just having the perspective and the leadership opportunities you have of what does it look like to be a Christian in the workplace? And so just as he speaks and shares, just consider your own context. I know many of you work in different environments. Some of you guys are retired, but consider how you're serving and the neighborhoods you live in, the friend groups you're part of, how all those can be insights that you can gain from what Matt shares here. So Matt, I just wanted to ask you in line with your position at the zoo and your faith, what does it look like to be a Christian doing what you're doing? I appreciate you setting it up that way. I do not claim to have it all figured out. So please understand. I appreciate Ozzie asking. And as my career has, as I've moved into the position and it has become more public, it is something that I think about on a regular basis. But I would say it is a unique position, but at the end of the day, it's not unlike anyone else's job. That works in a, quote unquote, secular environment. I mean, it's a job and mine is maybe a little more public. I do have, like many of us in the room, even though I'm president and CEO, I still have lots of bosses. I'm still observed by a lot of people. So I have a board. They're technically all my bosses. We are a city-owned facility, but we're privately operated. So there's some tax dollars involved there. Private dollars are, and that points back to the board. So point is, I have a lot of bosses and it's not like I can make every decision. We are, by design, supposed to be non-religious, apolitical, that kind of thing. So if we were a private organization, it could be different. But the question did kind of make me think, though, and actually in this question, I thought of two different quotes that I wrote down from our pastor in last week's sermon, if you were here. And so he made a comment that I thought was really good. And it was, we are only as good as the Christianity that we practice. And so it made me think that, as a Christian, do we practice it and what exactly does that mean? And so as a Christian, we have a couple of, well, we have, singly, we have the Holy Spirit, if we're a Christ follower, right? And so we have two different things that a non-person would have. And number one is an eternal perspective, right? So our baseline, our starting point is different. So we're seeing the world through a different lens. And then the second, I would argue that, particularly as we mature, we have the fruit of the Spirit, right? And we know those, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. Those are not, for some reason, and I thought about this too, they should be, but those things are not something that are inherently associated with executive leadership. Isn't that a sad thing? You think it's executive leadership, there are many things you think about it, but it has a lot more to do with competition and thinking more about yourself. And so I would like to add that, again, I don't think I have everything figured out, but it's, and we'll talk about this in a little bit, but starting off your day right, grounding yourself, but really trying, with help from the Holy Spirit, to practice those things, and you will stand out. And so I really try to do that because it's not the starting point of everybody. It's just not, pray that it is. But as you go about your day and you run into problems, and you have those interactions with people, if you're coming at it from the standpoint of an eternal perspective, it's just a different place. Yeah, and I don't think you'll always have opportunities, correct me if I'm wrong, to maybe share the gospel verbally. Not every conversation or every meeting you start with is like, okay, let me just share the gospel real quick. But as you share those same work with other people, you might do it a different way. You're doing it with the Lord watching, with the gifts He's giving you. You're doing it for His glory. When problems come up, you're more composed, self-controlled, you have every reason to with the Holy Spirit in you. And so as you're saying, you stand out by how you respond. The typical person probably might have a certain reaction, but with the Holy Spirit, there's a different way of seeing things. So the other quote the pastor said on Sunday was the higher you rise, the humbler you should become. And again, that's counterintuitive to the world standard, and exactly what you said. So I've really, I have, you know, some of it's personality type, there's all kinds of factors, but I have tried to do exactly what you just said. I'll just interrupt you. You are, no matter the level, and this shouldn't make you nervous, no matter the level, you are watched, you know? People watch you, and if people know that you're a believer, people watch you. And I know that for a fact. I've had that, I've had it raised many times, and people inquire about things faith-related, or ask how I respond, why did I respond that way, that kind of thing. So I don't know. I hope you find that encouraging and not nerve-wracking, because it is a way to have people notice and then interact with you. Yeah, and in the Lord's eyes, the measurement is faithfulness. It's not job titles, it's not pay, it's not how well did you retire, it's, you know, what did you do?

with what I gave you, whether that's a seasonal zookeeper or whether that's president, CEO. In the Lord's eyes, it's all about being faithful to what He's entrusted to us. And He might not move everybody in position of influence higher up. But if He does, it's important to flip that on His head, on the world's head and just say, the higher I go, you know, the more glory I'm gonna give God and the more I'm gonna serve you, servant leadership. And so that's very encouraging. Can you describe a time for us, Matt, when you saw the fruit of putting your faith in action? I have. And Ashley has worked, who is amazing and has supported me all along the way, has worked through some of this with me. It has definitely not all been smooth sailing. Leading an organization, there are challenges all the time. One of the more recent, a couple of years ago, we were really, it was kind of post-COVID, we were still recovering from some of that. We are a very, very, Memphis Zoo is not, zoos, a lot of them are not-for-profit organization. You know, we break even and we don't get a ton of help from our municipalities. So post-COVID, you know, when the zoo and everything else shut down, I mean, we heavily rely on people coming through the gate. And so we were just hemorrhaging, hemorrhaging money. And it took us quite a bit of time to recover from that. And there was one particular time where I was just, it was a real low point going into detail, but we were supposed to get some support in and it just wasn't coming. And I had really, and I'll talk about this a little bit more in a minute about being close to the Lord, but it really brought me closer to Him. And there were a handful of moments during that time where I was in the middle of praying and I got a text that the check arrived. You know, I mean, it's things like that, and yes, I checked at my text while I was praying. I shouldn't have done that, but I had a feeling. That's what it was. But for real, like it was just this, kind of this validation that happened. And there's been several moments like that. Prayer is an important part of my morning and therefore my day. And I really rely on that. But people interaction is interesting. I am, you talked about the way I react and I am kind of a non-reactor and I really try hard to not be excitable in a bad way and not to react. And that is something that is very noticed. And I've had several comments about that, but also just in working hard and some of my promotions and that kind of thing, I have had some of the funniest comments and I haven't even known exactly why. I remember the first one I got that really, it happened in my office. It took me off guard. Someone came and sat down with me and they had a question for me and they asked me to pray about something. And then said, followed it up with, you seem to have a special connection with the big guy. I was so caught off guard by that. I was like, how in the, what the, wow. That is so interesting. If only that were true. But I was perceived that way. And I heard several other comments about that. Things just always seem to work out. And so when people out of the blue would swing by and just open up to me about a problem, about an issue, told them I would be praying for them, that kind of thing, it just, conversations would kind of swing in that direction. And I find that meaningful. And it is definitely a way to steer conversations to faith conversations. And I think that's a really interesting thing. To steer conversations to faith conversations. Yeah, I love that you shared that about that opening up. That little foot in the door to someone's life. Last week, we talked about the importance of trust in evangelism. The gospel stays the same throughout all of history, but the context change. And in our day, there's a lot of people who are distrusting of each other. And just in looking at research and looking at some of what these other experts and evangelists have had to say, even Ben, trust is a very big part about somebody actually listening to what you have to say. And so don't discount those little moments where you're just setting an example. Or those moments in the conversation where you throw in prayer, you throw in a big guy, right? Just these little comments. The Lord is working in those. You know, we're planting seeds and the Lord is watering and giving the growth. Planting seeds, watering, the Lord is giving the growth. And so every example you set, everything you say all matter in the grand scheme of things. So thanks for sharing that, Matt. Last question, and then we're gonna field some questions out here. But what encouragement would you offer, just generally speaking, about being a Christian and living out your faith in the workplace? A couple things came to mind. One is you're not alone. You know, and in a couple different ways, you know. God literally said, be not afraid for I am with you. And of course that theme is carried throughout scripture. But also there's a lot of other believers around us. And you know, to Ozzie's point, we're not always in a situation where we can have gospel conversations all of the time. But you never know where people are. And don't feel alone, I guess I would say. But also, be faithful where God has placed you. To your point, not everyone is a leader, executive leader, or whatever. But God has placed you there for a reason. And if you are there, then he will use you if you are willing. I think, but kind of steering this, and it's not, I guess, directly a point of encouragement. I would just really like to emphasize starting your day off in the right way. You know, we've all heard, you know, since if you were raised in a Christian home or around Christians, you've heard, you know, get in that quiet time. You know, read your Bible and pray every day. Remember that. And as I have matured in my faith and gotten older, it has really been impressed upon me about how God wants to have a relationship with you. And that we don't, our relationship with God isn't transactional. It shouldn't be. And that is how we tend to think of God. As I know many of us are wired, I'm very much wired to be a problem solver. And when I am even faithfully crying out to God, or fervently, and something, and I get an answer to prayer, you know, I check the box and move on. And that is kind of my default setting. And I've really tried to be intentional over the last handful of years to mark those moments and to really try to remember that this happened and to be immediately thankful, you know. And that has really helped ground me in kind of a day-to-day rhythm. And so, and that moment, and I'm not really going into the difficulty of that tough financial time we were kind of having, and the burden I was feeling, which was, you know, maybe it wasn't quite as bad as I, but I was feeling that it was. And it could have been bad, for sure. But it was really then, I think, that I realized that this isn't a transactional thing, that I am crying out to God because I need to need Him. Like, this is, that is what our position is supposed to be. There's a song, there's a Christian artist named John Van Dusen, anybody know John Van Dusen? Great Christian artist, check him out. Sings a song called, Only Living If I'm Abiding. And that's what it's about. It's, you know, God wants us in that posture where we're abiding in Him, and we're not, you know, a la carte, we're, whether it's, personally, I believe that's what praying without ceasing means. Sounds like an impossible task, but it's this ongoing relationship with God. And I think that if we can get in a rhythm of starting your day out that way, whether it's a few minutes, or you have the luxury of it being a little longer, and then carrying that throughout the day, having an ongoing relationship with Him, thanking Him when something, you know, happens in a good way, praying even harder when something doesn't, that we'll be just in a much better position to handle things as they come along, no matter what it is. But, of course, it's all related. When you're abiding, Holy Spirit is more active in your life, fruit of the Spirit is more evident, and again, it all kind of comes together. So that would be my bit of encouragement. Yeah, it reminds me, just hearing you say that, that who we are is just as, if not more important than what we do. That's right. Our work is important, you know, you want to keep.

your job and you want to do it well. God has made us creatures to work. God created Adam and Eve to take care of the garden. But, you know, 1st Corinthians 13, if we don't love, we're missing the whole point. The fruits of the Spirit are all about attitudes. They're all ways you can describe somebody, not their work. And so God made us workers, but more importantly, He made us to be more like Christ. And that's what we can bring into the workplaces, as you've said. So thank you for sharing that, Matt. All right, let's field some questions. Have any of you guys thought of anything as we're chatting up here? Fun? Serious? In the middle? Weird? Go ahead, Price. Loud and clear. It's a good question. Could talk a long time about that, and it depends on the species. I will say, giving you a quick, quick, quick, quick history of zoos, I don't know of another industry off the top of my head that has kind of flipped the script on that at kind of a baseline of what they do more than zoos. So zoos used to be, and whether or not you still consider them that way, that's, you know, another conversation, a collection of animals, you know, like baseball cards or stamps or that kind of thing. Like you kept sometimes individual animals. Like the cool thing to do is to come see the rare whatever at the whatever zoo, right? And I saw this rare thing and whatever. It was much more of a, zoos were consumers of wild animals, and there wasn't really a much of a consideration for their future. And that is completely different now. AZA accredited zoos are conservation organizations, and the animals specifically, not all species by the way are suited for what we do, but the animals that we keep and that we plan to keep and that we design habitats for, I believe that we can take every bit as good of care, if or better sometimes, than what they can experience in the wild. And sometimes the hardships of what they're experiencing in the wild are because of people. And you may not know this, but zoos, AZA accredited zoos, so all of the endangered species that you see, literally represent their wild counterparts. AZA accredited zoos are also giant coops. So those animals are managed from a genetic standpoint. So there is somebody, and our employees are many of them, but there is somebody, let's just take orangutans, so just pick a species. There is someone, a small group of experts, that manages the entire captive population of orangutans from a genetic standpoint. So there is somebody that reviews that every year to two years and be like, you know what Memphis Zoo, you guys have had a couple of offspring, we don't want, these genes are pretty well represented, let's go, we're gonna go ahead and make the recommendation that you send your mail to Oklahoma City and receive another mail from North Carolina. And because that's what's best for this genetic population, because we're trying to always operate as if the captive population could one day be the only population. And sometimes that's true. So it needs to remain strong. So that's just from a genetic standpoint, but from the exhibit animal welfare standpoint, I could go down, I could talk a lot longer about that, but we take it very seriously. And I hope you know that. It is not just animals to stare at. It's just, it's a different world, and it should be. Last example I give, we are working on a new elephant exhibit right now. We're in design. I'm fundraising for it. It's going to be a really, literally big deal. And the reason that elephants in the United States, I'll just say this, when a child comes to the Memphis Zoo and you watch them step off the bus, by the way we see over 60,000 schoolchildren a year, step off the bus and see an elephant in real life for the first time, it changes them. Most kids can't go see elephants in Africa. And it's better than YouTube, it's better than National Geographic, they make a connection and it builds empathy for our natural world. And there's nothing like experiencing it in real life. And so when seeing that happen kind of changes your attitude sometimes about what we're doing. It's a pretty neat thing. But African elephants specifically in the United States is a very old population. So we've got some, I'll just say these aren't all teenagers in here. So all of the elephants that we grew up seeing in zoos and circuses, probably 80% of them were all imported at the same time in the late 80s. And they were all brought in, most of them, on two shipments. They're brought in on C-130s in crates as babies. They were sold to zoos and circuses. Now imagine doing business like that now. So the mentality was that if you needed a new elephant or a new rhino or a new chimp, you bought one. There was no consideration to thinking ahead and thinking about the wild. And so again, no conservation mindset whatsoever. So those elephants that went to give rides and to live singly housed at some random zoo, there was no consideration to reproduction. So now we find ourselves in a situation where we have a very aged population. And in about 50 years, if there's no action taken, we could have 20 elephants in the whole country, maybe none, if it's handled wrong. And so there's been kind of this concentrated effort to fix that. But it's because there is a need to conserve these animals, not just stare at them. So it's a really long answer, but it's a really good question and something people should be comfortable with. Thank you, Price. Somebody else? Yes, Chad. Like a 401k or something like that? Deposit some food, you know. It's a really good question. There's not. There are sanctuaries, quote unquote, around. But we don't take that route. So animals in captivity, particularly in modern day zoos, there are very, very skilled veterinarians. So there's the zookeepers and there's veterinarians that are very general purpose. You know, one day a zoo veterinarian is working on an elephant and one day they're working on a bird. You know, it's all over the place. They're very talented. We have dedicated nutritionists just for those animals. So point being, animals in captivity, for the most part, live longer than they do in the wild. And so what that does is it actually presents problems that didn't used to happen. So just like people, animals are live longer, are now living longer in captivity, and they develop the exact same things we do. So if you're not careful, they gain too much weight. They have teeth problems, arthritis, diabetes, you know, all these things. If any of those things were to happen in the wild, they just wouldn't make it. You know, they would be predated, or they would, you know, come to some other, and they just, they wouldn't live. And so to get back to your question, no, we don't do anything with them. We don't move them on. We let them live their life out in the zoo. But geriatric medicine has become a very big part of what zoo veterinarians do. It goes into the nutrition, goes into their daily care, but it's a big concentration, a big part. They spend a lot of their time focused on geriatric medicine. So we care for them till the very end. But it's a really good question, but people often wonder about that. Yes, Justin. That's right. I appreciate you saying that. We've really gone out of our way to design exhibits, and again, keep species number one that we know we can do well by. But two, one of the things I really like, there's lots of good zoos out there. One of the things I really like about our zoo is, well, there's a lot of things I like about our zoo. You can see it in a day, it's level, there's lots of cool things. But we've really tried to design our exhibits where they're big enough, but you can still see the animals. So if you notice, a lot of our exhibits are linear, kind of in a horizontal way. So the animals can move around quite a bit. And there's a handful of zoos where you will go, I can think of one right now where people go to see elephants being one, and the habitat is so large that people complain that they can't see the animals. And the funny part is, the zoo people go and they're like, this is amazing. But the person, most people will go and they really want to see the animals. So a lot of times I will say, it is hard, animal welfare can be hard to define.

But everybody knows bad when they see it. And a small exhibit is a good way to do that, or a bad way to do it. Yes, Ray. Yeah, on that note, Justin, I've lived in Memphis 20 years. I love our zoo. I think it's like one of the beacons of our community. Oh, thank you. What you all have done recently with the little tiger and bear ride, which you can see the zoo from. Yeah, in Zipline. From how big that is to the splash pad, again, while conservation has changed, you can go to the zoo and have fun in different ways, too. Yeah. And so just updating the facility, you guys got rid of the old barn cells. Some of the spots that really were run down and overrun, great job of getting those out of there. The old pelican spot, that was there. Well, thank you for noticing. I really appreciate that. I'll say, relatedly, one thing that's been really neat for me to discover is if someone had told me five years ago that you're going to be fundraising almost full time, I would've been like, no way. You're crazy. I would never want to do that. But that's actually not what it has been. Number one, if you're going to fundraise, you better believe in what you're doing, or you won't get anywhere. So one of my first tasks was to develop, or with a team, a new master plan, because we need a new way forward. Our old master plan was fully realized, which is amazing, but started with Cat Country a long time ago and ended with the Zambezi River Hippocamp, roughly rebuilt about half the zoo. And so we needed a way forward. And so super excited to have a big hand in what our new master plan looks like. But what I have found in talking with, right now we're in this, what in the fundraising world they call the quiet phase, right? So we're talking to these legacy donors and that kind of thing. Hundreds of individual conversations. And what has been really neat to discover is that the zoo, I mean, we're a zoo. It seems very specialized, but what we really are, in addition to all of the many faceted things that we do, conservation, research, education, so on and so forth, we are a gathering place for our community. We are a safe place. We're perceived that way. People come to our zoo to get away from other things, politics and various family reunions, that kind of thing. We're seen that way. So it's been kind of a reawakening for me because I've always seen things through the animal angle. And so to realize that people view, multi-generational view of the zoo as this unique gathering place that they have nothing but fond memories from has really been reinforcing to me. It makes me want to do a better job, not just for the individual animals, but for our community. But anyway, I appreciate the kind words. We don't do everything perfectly, but we want to. Yes, ma'am. And then for the pups, then, do you have anything like a cat practice so that the puppies can have the ability to go to the farm? That specifically, we don't have plans for right now. Now, one of the animals that we kind of go back and forth on and that we're constantly trying to work on is cheetahs. And we actually have set up what's called a coursing line for cheetahs, where you've seen this in other places, perhaps around TV, where they chase a lure and they almost can't not do it. When they see this lure go by on a string, they go after it like a house cat. But so specifically with tigers, no. Tigers are inherently, a lot of big cats, and this is not a cop-out answer, they're lazy. They move and they hunt when they need to. And that's really the way, that's really by design. That's all about conserving energy. But it brings up another topic, which is very important, which is something that we generally called, we call environmental enrichment. And that is enriching the lives of our animals very generally. But what we really focus on is animals using their bodies in the way they do in the wild. And so we, in captivity, you can't do that exactly like they do in the wild. But what you can do is figure out creative ways for them to use all of their muscles and their brain. And so I'll just stick with elephants, for example, and try to make it short. Elephants, one of the, we used to, this has kind of changed, one of the big arguments against elephants in captivity was, well, in the wild, they walk 15 miles a day, or that kind of thing, and they can't do that in captivity. It's true. The reason they walk so many miles is because a group of elephants eats up all of the food in an area, and then they have to keep moving. They're not wanting to do that, but yet they're kind of made that way. They need to move, they need to use their muscles, they need to wear down the bottoms of their feet, or they can overgrow. But if you look at the way elephants eat, they eat, they spend most of their day with their heads up in trees. They don't graze, they browse. There is a difference. So they spend all day stripping leaves from trees, pushing over trees, that kind of thing. So we changed our strategy. We don't feed them a pile of hay on the ground three times a day. We have, if you come to Memphis Zoo, you see hay nets suspended up in the air in various locations, and they reach up and they pull down little bits of hay all day long, and that's the way they eat in the wild. It's muscles that they wouldn't use if they were just eating from a pile and that kind of thing. We bury some of their food so that they have to dig. All of this sounds very frustrating, doesn't it? But actually it's what they're designed to do. So take that concept and even more intelligent, of course elephants are really up there, but apes and that kind of thing, the zookeepers go to great lengths to keep their minds busy all day, and you don't always see all of it. And some of them, they just wanna take a break. Animals spend a lot of time, lions, big cats, for example, they spend a lot of their days, hours in the wild sleeping. But anyway, again, long answer, but it's really a good question. You have a follow-up? Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good question. Fortunately, no, this isn't fortunately, it's terrible. No one's come, I was gonna say, no one's really at the zoo when it's 100 degrees. I wish they were, because we need that revenue, right? But point being, when it's an extreme temperature, whether hot or cold, we give all of the animals at the zoo have somewhere they can retreat to. So we call it just generically a barn or a night house, but most animals, all the animals have a really nice area, but they're all air-conditioned, heated. Some of them have heated floors, there's pools in the back. Oftentimes, the back areas are nicer than the front. They just don't look as decorative. So during extreme temperatures, we will give them what we call access, and they have the choice to come or go. You'd be surprised. Sometimes when it's really cold or really hot, some animals do choose to be outside, but this heat wave was brutal. You all know that. And so African animals were wanting to be inside, but we really try hard. Northwest Passage, for example, the polar bears, this is not ideal polar bear habitat, right? For many reasons, but there's some things going on in the exhibit you don't know about. So the water is chilled to 62 degrees. There are chilled, literally refrigerated rocks throughout the exhibit. So when the animal is laying, there's kind of like a rock archway that they lay under. Sometimes you will see and people go, oh, it looks so hot. Well, he's laying on a refrigerated rock. And so the temperature of that area is actually quite cool. So there's several things like that that are kind of around the exhibit. So we really do try hard to make them as comfortable as possible. If they're not comfortable on exhibit, we give them the ability to come in. So that's the short answer. Thank you, Pam. Let's do one more. These are really good questions. Go ahead, Christy. This is kind of random. I work in radiology now a lot, and you always hear about when people are too big for the scanners. I don't know. I can't believe this is coming up. Please continue with your question. You always hear stories when people are too big for the MRI scanners, do they go to the zoo? Yeah. No. No, they don't. Okay, but I'll try to make this short. I was not expecting this tonight. I don't know, but this is the, this is one of my favorite urban legends ever. So a lot of zoos deal with this. I feel like we deal with it more than most. So here's the bet. This has gone on for years. So we get calls all the time that are eventually routed, if they make it that far, to our vet team, but they come to the front, they come to me, they come, and it basically is we have a patient that is too large for our CT or MRI. We need to send them your way. And we'll say, I hate to tell you this, but we have, because there's some mysterious open CT or open.

MRI, because we must CT and MRI our elephants and our rhinos and our hippos. We don't. We never have. We haven't. We have always had, until recently, I'll explain in a second, an x-ray machine. And that's it. And it's a human x-ray machine. And so, we have had doctors and residents and argue with us, I mean, that yes, you do. We have sent patients there. It says right here in the chart, sent to the zoo for an MRI. And it does. It is in the chart. And the only thing that I can figure is that there are doctors that tell their residents, call the zoo, and then they believe that it's true. This has gone on for years. I cannot tell you how many calls I've gotten about big patients needing MRI. They are coming to the zoo. Some of them are on the way. And we can't accommodate them. This is, I mean, 100, well, here's what muddies the water. We just got a CT at the zoo. So a year and a half ago, we got a CT. We bought the biggest table we could find, because we do have big animals. But I think it supports up to 600 pounds. So I can't say it'll never happen. But- But the CT at the barn, on their little sign in the corner, it says the weight limit is 675 pounds. Okay. Well, sounds like you bought the biggest table. However, I don't know that a 675 pound person would fit in the hole. Right. Right. No, I get it. The tiniest thing we have CT'd so far is a giant Aldabra tortoise, who we thought we might have to butter the sides to get it to squeeze in there. Just made it. But gorilla, big cat, we could get anything bigger than that, we can't do. But I can't believe you brought that up. That's hilarious. Because it's something that we've kind of snickered about for years, and it's ongoing. It is in patients' charts, sent to the zoo for a CT. But do your part, it is not true. So anything you can do to help, that'd be great. Thank you. On that very strong note, can we thank Matt and Ashley for giving us their evening tonight? Thank you guys. Yeah, thank you. Matt, before you head off the stage, would you mind just praying for us? We got a lot of workers, and we're springing off the theme of being workers in the harvest place. The harvest looks different for each one of us, neighborhoods, friend groups. We work in different hospitals, teaching in different school systems. And just from your perspective, I think it would mean a lot if you just went to the Lord on behalf and prayed over us. Could you do that? Thank you. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we just thank you for this group of people here today, of believers and people that have gathered, just really to just to seek you. And I just thank you for that. I thank you for the opportunity to speak before them. But I would really like to just lift up this whole group to you, that are all different individuals, all in different lines of work, but yet can all make a difference for you. And I just pray that you will really impress upon everyone that they can make a difference. But first and foremost, their relationship with you is the most important thing, and that they would really, really take care of that. And then before they know it, they'll be wanting to care for other people. And just pray that that will be desire of their heart, and that you will just go before everyone here, and just throughout this week, and just remember who they're representing. And just thank you for the opportunity to do that, and that it won't be just a super intimidating thing, that it will just be an honor to represent you, and it's a mindset we should have. But again, thank you for this time, and thank you for everyone represented here, and just be with everyone's family that's here as well. And just thank you for who you are, thank you for loving us and allowing us to come before you. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray.