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Meet The Zoo Director - October - Rick Schwartz, Nashville Zoo at Grassmere
Actual title: President, Nashville Zoo at Grassmere Name of your zoo: Nashville Zoo at Grassmere URL for your facility: www.nashvillezoo.org Number of species at your facility: More than 160 Your favorite critter at the facility: Clouded Leopards Total number of animals or fish at your facility: More than 1,600 Number of visitors annually: 546,429 in 2007 Number of employees: 156 Number of volunteers: 1100 Annual budget: $7.7 million Degree(s): None Experience prior to this position: I’ve been involved with the care of exotic animals since the age of 14 when I owned my first cougar (much to the dismay of my parents). Favorite part of your job: Walking around our park and listening to the general public enjoying the staff’s creativity and hard work. One dream wish for your facility: A state of the art gorilla facility. Family: Married for seventeen years to my wife Catherine. We have a fifteen year old daughter followed by three sons who are 13, 11, and 8 years old. Pets at home: Varies on any particular day, but our house is filled with snakes, lizards, frogs, fish, two dogs, and a cat. When you retire, you plan to: Go back to my real passion of breeding endangered species. As our facility continues to grow I unfortunately spend less time working directly with animals. |

I think we should move on from having dolphins in captivity now - we all know this isn't good for them.
The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve is a magical place. The flora, fauna, remoteness and beauty are exquisite. Another interesting aspect is how the indigenous people there live. To learn more and see photos taken by indigenous children in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, you can visit ninosdelaamazonia.org
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