By coincidence, Flowers had just been tasked with a USAID mission to build a snake venom antiserum production facility in Costa Rica. Herschel Hardin Flowers, at the time the youngest graduate of the University of Florida's veterinary school. His father had heard that the Army was doing something at Fort Knox involving snakes, so Burchfield hopped in his Volkswagen and headed to Kentucky to find out what it was all about.Īt Fort Knox he met a Capt. ![]() He volunteered for the Marines but didn't meet the Corps' height requirement, so he joined the Army instead. ![]() "He was always saving animals, so we had wild animals in our house from the time I was a small child."īurchfield had graduated to a paid position as zookeeper in Columbus when Vietnam came along. "He would buy a snapping turtle from some kids so they wouldn't hurt it, or bring a bullfrog home, or three red fox kits, which we bottle raised, and ground hogs," Burchfield said. "Bless his heart, he put up with them."ĭespite his queasiness about snakes his father loved all animals, even reptiles, another quality he passed on to his son. "My mom was my accomplice and she supported me, so he had to," Burchfield said. "When I started out as a volunteer at the Columbus Zoo in 1959, as a kid basically, I'd always been interested in reptiles and amphibians and caught them since I was a small boy and dragged them home much to my father's chagrin," he said.īurchfield's dad, with matinee-idol looks and expert marksmanship and archery skills, which he passed on to his son, was petrified of snakes. Colo was the world's oldest gorilla in captivity when she died in 2017 at the age of 60. Burchfield cared for the young western lowland gorilla at Columbus in the early 1960s. This was the same Warren Thomas who, as a second-year veterinary student at the Columbus Zoo, was featured in Life magazine for saving from stillbirth the world's first captive-born gorilla, Colo, in 1956. "I sent them back with fairly extensive changes recommended, and apparently Dr. "I said sure, send them on up," Burchfield said. Burchfield at the time was head keeper of the Columbus (Ohio) Zoo's new Reptilia-Amphibia Hall, but was asked to review Thomas' blueprints by Gladys Portergeneral curator Tom Hoover, who'd been a fellow zookeeper with Burchfield in Columbus, Burchfield's hometown. Thomas, the zoo's first director, to discuss Burchfield's ideas for the new reptile house Thomas was designing. Burchfield, now in his 51st year with the Gladys Porter Zoo, as Brownsville's wild gem celebrates its own half century of delighting and educating visitors.īurchfield's first trip to Brownsville was at the invitation of Warren D. 8-If anyone was born to run a zoo it's Dr. However, her legacy at the zoo lives on today through its continuing mission to preserve wildlife and nature through education, conservation and research.Nov. Gladys Porter sadly died in 1980 but up until her death, she was not only President of the zoo for 11 years but had also been heavily committed to getting involved in the zoo’s day-to-day operations. The zoo also has a Small World area which is home to a nursery and an animal contact yard where children can interact with domesticated animals and even get to touch them. It is split up into 4 geographical areas – Asia, Africa, Tropical America and Indo-Australia and there are also Bear Grottos, a California Sea Lion exhibit, a Herpetarium and Aquatic Wing, a free-flight aviary, a Macaw Canyon and a Komodo dragon exhibit at the zoo. ![]() The zoo covers 31 acres and has, on average, 375, 000 visitors per year. ![]() In the 1960s, Gladys (now Porter) and her husband Dean travelled extensively throughout Africa and other foreign countries where they became interested in and concerned about the plight of the world’s wildlife which consequently led them to deciding to open up a zoo in Brownsville. Mr Sams had two daughters, Gladys and Camille, and they both became heavily involved in charitable work and, following their father’s death in 1950, they were both entrusted to administer the funds established by his Foundation. Penney and subsequently went on to become the company’s President when the J.C. It was this from this foundation that the zoo would get its name.Įarl C Sams used to work for the famous businessman J.C. Sams Foundation before being handed over to the city of Brownsville. The zoo opened in 1971 when it was planned and built then subsequently stocked and equipped by the Earl C. The Gladys Porter Zoo is located in Brownsville, Texas. Related: Elmwood Park Zoo / Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom / Austin Zoo / Wild West City
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