grass and has permeable pavers (Drivable Grass) pitched to a bio-swale. The result is that water leaving the parking lot (and entering the nearby stream) has been biologically filtered. The parking lot is connected by a unique footbridge (designed by Larry Neufeld ’67) to a path (made out of another permeable material called Flexi-Pave) that winds up through the woods by the stream past the Mill to the zoo. The end result is that, by the time our visitors enter the zoo, they have already had a short walk in a natural environment and have been introduced to the concept of low impact construction and landscaping. And all of this happens in a space that had essentially been lost but has now been reclaimed. We also now begin our work with students right at the beginning—the beginning of their time at Millbrook. A year ago, we began requiring all IIIrd formers to spend a third of the year working at the zoo. This programmatic change was not without its risks. The zoo staff initiated the idea, but even we were apprehensive about having to train new groups of students in the winter and again in the spring. And we worried that the whole plan might backfire; maybe we would turn off the entire 3rd form. But that didn’t happen. We opened this year with the largest group of students at the zoo in history. My initial thought was that we were simply helping to accommodate a larger student body. It turns out that of the 55 students on the zoo community service roster, 18 were IVth formers, most of whom were returning students. It seems that we succeeded in tapping kids who, without the mandatory exposure, would never have considered the zoo. And that, of course, was our goal. So what about my last unanswered question? Is it appropriate to keep animals in captivity in zoos? I have always said that animals in zoos must be thought of as ambassadors for their wild counterparts.
It is the wild animal that we are obliged to protect through the education of our students and our zoo visitors. And for those animals that we confine in captivity, we must do everything in our power to provide them with a healthy, enriched and stimulating environment. When our husbandry falls short, we not only short-change our charges, but we short-change ourselves. The modern zoo is a critical educational institution in a world where people are increasingly ignorant of the natural world. We must understand our planet and all of its inhabitants if we are going to successfully manage our future. Zoos can help bring us to that understanding.
Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, Class of 1959 Becoming Responsible Citizens Much like any 13 year-old, when I visited Millbrook I hadn’t the slightest clue what I might like to become. I was, however, totally taken by the zoo and announced that Millbrook was where I wanted to go. Luckily, I was admitted. I certainly had no idea of either becoming a scientist or of being involved in environmental stewardship. In fact, when I learned biology was required and had to be taken the first or second year, I actually said I would take it the first year and get it over with.
• Tom with Caesar the Cheetah in 1957
Within weeks Frank Trevor had worked his spell. His course was essentially a biodiversity course, although the phrase did not exist back then. We started with blue green algae in the fall and worked through the Plant and Animal Kingdoms to mammals in the spring, with all other parts of biology hung on along the way. So just shy of my 15th birthday I understood the outline of life on Earth, and basically I have never been able to get enough ever since. Seeing a species new to me is always a thrill. At the zoo we all learned the ultimate lesson in responsibility: namely that the animal(s) we cared for were completely dependent on our doing our job. That is an important key benefit (but hardly the only one) of the new requirement that every student spend time at the zoo.
• With Frank Trevor and the zoo squad in 1956. Tom is front row, 5th from the right.
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