- The Topeka Zoo has been part of so many family memories, but what does its future hold?

This week on Inspire, we're exploring a bold new vision designed to inspire generations to come.

Please stay with us.

Inspire is sponsored by the Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation and by the estate of Ray and Ann Goldsmith.

Hello and welcome to Inspire.

It's always a great day when we can spend time together with co-hosts Leslie Fleuranges, and of course, all of you.

From conservation to community connection.

The Topeka Zoo is planning for the future, and it's big, big animals, little animals, hang on.

- The zoo we love is growing thoughtfully, intentionally, and with our community in mind.

- Today we're giving you a behind the scenes look at the Topeka Zoo's Master Plan from our director, Christina Castellano, CEO of the Topeka Zoo.

We're so glad you're here again.

And Leslie and I have just been about to burst.

Yes.

Oh, wonderful.

'cause we went online, found this whole thing that, you know, that the public can see as well at the Topeka Zoo.

And it's exciting.

And on the cover, the red panda.

Yeah.

So, but okay, now hang on.

Or, or I've got to hang on myself because I'm so excited about it.

The master plan, it's called, I know the Master Plan.

Master Plan, but this zoo ever since Gary Clarke, the world famous Topeka Zoo with the eagles.

And I mean that absolutely.

That really put it on the map.

Could you give, for those who may not know, watching from afar streaming us, what's the history of the zoo?

- Oh, the zoo has so much history.

When I first came here and learned about the zoo, I learned about families.

People in our community, our staff, and especially Gary Clarke, the first zoo director that was here in Topeka, Gary left an incredible legacy.

He left friends, people who remember being on safari with him.

And he really created a cherished treasure for people in this community.

So we owe a lot to Gary.

- So, you know, when we met first you said something interesting.

I didn't know about the zoo.

'cause I mentioned that we had lost a few pets and you said that a few pets be the pet person.

We lost a few animals.

They pets.

Well, they are.

Yeah, they are.

- Yeah.

- And you said that's because this is a what kind of zoo?

It's not the, a typical zoo.

- Yeah.

Well, I, it's not a typical zoo in any way.

Right.

We always say that what we really specialize in is a care of geriatric animals.

Though our zoo will be evolving and we'll be breeding more animals and we'll have younger animals.

But the fact that we take such good care of our animals that they live a really long time is something that we're really proud about, really proud for our staff and for our community, for giving us that, that kind of support.

- Let's get into this plan.

Yeah.

We can't wait to see it.

This is fresh news.

- Yeah.

- And, you know, where are you gonna put everything?

How's it gonna work?

- Yeah.

What's really exciting about this plan, and that gets me excited, is of course, we're a community service organization, right?

Right.

We are here to serve our community and connect people with animals and conservation and to really appreciate nature.

And what we've done in this plan is we've looked at our whole campus and said, okay, where are the areas that we can really develop in a way that gives people the best experience when they come to our zoo, so that we can make that connection, but also, how do we demonstrate progress in a way that people know that we provide the best care for these animals.

We love them.

And our staff is a hundred percent dedicated to their wellbeing.

- They really are.

I mean, every time you go there, there's a, they're great keepers and they're, they wanna educate the public.

- Right.

So why are we calling this a master plan?

It sounds like you are doing something innovative, something that's so visionary.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

- Yeah, so we call it a master plan because it's really a mo a roadmap for us, right?

For the next five years.

We have plans for even beyond the five years, but what we thought was five years was a good amount of time where we can really build, rebuild, renew different parts of our campus to connect people with the conservation projects that we're most dedicated to.

And also in a way that we bring that familiarity to people.

We say, it's the zoo that you call home, you'll, it's familiar yet fresh, but it's a place that you wanna come back to over and over again.

And that's really the theme in the master plan.

It's all about that connection, renewing connection, renewing our facility, and reimagining our spaces.

- And you know, it's for every age.

- Yes, absolutely.

- We're really focusing on young people, and I love the idea of teaching them about animals, animal behaviors, the importance of conservation, the importance of every living thing.

Yeah.

We expand on that, - Please.

Yeah, absolutely.

So we exist for our community in a way that helps foster connections with nature, right?

How we care about nature, how, what's our role?

What does that look like?

And part of that is our, who we want to connect with.

So when you connect with nature, everything kind of falls into place, right?

Right.

There's a greater understanding about how things work.

And we do focus a lot on young kids and families, but we also wanna engage seniors and everyone in our community to know that this is a place to go where everyone's welcome and everybody can feel what the closeness to animals and nature is really all about.

- So what's, what's the first phase, if you will, of this new master plan?

- Yeah.

In this new master plan, we have five projects, and we're gonna be opening a new project every year, starting this year.

Oh.

So we put a shovel in the ground last year for the Mark and Betty Morris family, tiger Trails and Den Academy with this incredible weather over the winter.

We are actually on track to open this summer.

Oh.

So that will be the first piece of it.

What's really exciting about this particular project is it marries our history with Sumatran Tigers.

We're a facility that's known for the excellent care and breeding of this particular critically endangered species.

Yes, yes.

But it also is married with our community and the stories of our community and the relationship between the Morris Family and Gary Clarke.

- Yes.

Yes.

Absolutely.

And do you know more about that?

Because I know he was involved in with Hills and then Betty, you know, is carrying on and - Absolutely.

So Mark Morris Jr.

Really carried the legacy of Mark Morris Sr.

In creating diets for animals.

And what happened when Mark became friends with Gary Clarke is they came together to use the zoo as a test kitchen for diets for exotic animals.

And what was really striking to me when I came here is that in my career in zoos, we were feeding animals, the diets that were created here in Topeka - Wow.

- By Gary and Mark Morris.

- Of course.

Yeah.

- So it was really this culmination of an idea of that's something we really should be proud about.

Right.

All Topekans should know that.

Right.

And little kids that are growing up in our community should know that big things happen here that have a global impact.

Impact.

- Yeah.

- And this is the way we're telling that story in this new exhibit.

- Well, I'm especially proud of that because of course, I worked for Hills Pet Nutrition for so many years, and of course, Mark Morris is the founder of Hills, and he developed the first real therapeutic food.

Absolutely.

Yes.

For cats and dogs.

So it's fabulous to know that his history and his legacy go on, and that it all started here in Topeka.

Isn't that amazing?

Yeah, it is.

It really is.

That's a - Story that we can't let go.

- No, no.

- We have to keep telling that story over and over again about Mark Morris Sr.

and Hills and Mark Morris Jr.

And creating a line of diets for exotic animals that are fed all over the world.

That's a Topeka story.

We gotta make sure that we're telling that - It's so, thank you.

Thank you for doing that.

- Well, and the nutrition that keeps coming, you know, that you said for the longevity of the animals.

I know we had a very famous elephant here who was in a movie.

- Absolutely.

Yes.

Cora, our Asian elephant, which she did pass last year.

Right.

She was one of the oldest Asian elephants in zoos.

We still have Tembo though.

And Tembo is 55.

Unbelievable.

And she is one of the oldest African elephants.

And goes back to what we were saying about the care of geriatric animals.

Tembo has been at our zoo for 50 years.

- Oh, that's great.

Oh my goodness.

That's great.

- And the relationship she had with elephants was great, but she has a relationship with our staff and our keepers.

Sure.

That is just, it's, it's just unmatched.

So Cora, I mean, Tembo is with us.

- Right.

- And her caregivers are there every day with her, with that bond and that relationship.

- Cora's movie, by the way, was "Smokey and the Bandit".

Oh.

So in case anybody's looking up, thinking I'm, where was - It?

"Smokey and the Bandit".

- Yeah, yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which was so fun.

- Yeah, no, I was just gonna say, so other than Temba, what is the next oldest animal - That we have at the zoo?

Asante our female lion.

Our female lion.

I believe she's over, she's either 20 or she is just going over 20.

And she's an old gal.

And our staff watch her and make sure that she is doing well.

Some days are good, some days aren't.

But we, we always say is that we all know this as pet owners, right?

- Sure, - Sure.

We, we love our animals when they're puppies and they're kittens, but we watch them as they age, and we love them just the same.

- Absolutely.

- And they love us just the same.

They're in the, and they love us just the same, the care changes.

But that commitment and dedication is always there.

So Asante, she is very well loved and cared for, but she's another one of our older animals.

- So Beautiful.

Listen, the zoo's next chapter is being written now, and we all have a role in it.

We're gonna learn more about how we can all play a role in building its legacy, coming up on Inspire.

So stay with us.

- My name is Anastasia Maranto.

I am a zookeeper here at the Topeka Zoo.

I've been here for six and a half years at this point.

And I primarily work with our orangutans and our patas monkeys.

So borean orangutans are one of three species of orangutan.

They're all found in Southeast Asia.

These guys are primarily arboreal, which means they spend most of their day in the trees.

And so if you come out to the zoo and see 'em swinging around, you'll see that their arms are actually much longer than their legs to help with the traversing in the trees.

We have five orangutans here at the zoo right now.

We have four adults, two more geriatric and two, two younger kiddos.

And then we have our baby Udara.

She's three and a half.

And she's always the star of the show.

She is the result of a breeding recommendation from the Orangutan Species survival Plan.

She is always getting into trouble climbing.

Some are salting.

She is really pretty small.

What you expect with orangutan babies, because they're pretty slow growers and they have one of the longest childhoods of any species in the animal kingdom.

That's because there is so much that a wild orangutan has to learn before they can go out on their own in the wild.

And so they're slow growers so that they spend, you know, around eight years with mom learning all the different, you know, fruits that they can eat and how to eat them.

And when they're in season, you know, what does our territory look like?

What kind of tools should I be building or making and using?

So it's really quite a joy to, to have her be so little and so adventurous.

She's just a sponge.

She's learning all the time.

So all orangutan species, including borean orangutans, are critically endangered.

So that means they are at pretty severe risk of going extinct.

So we have a whole host of issues that are, you know, making it really difficult for orangutans to survive in the wild.

Right now.

Chief among them, you have deforestation.

You also sometimes will have forest fires that break out as a result of sometimes they're trying to burn trees down to create farmland.

And then, you know, the orangutans that are left where, you know, they're now in a palm oil plantation that's part of their home now.

And so they're trying to, you know, travel through lands that are now occupied by humans.

You see a lot of human wildlife conflict because obviously the people are just trying to make a living.

So they're threatened by the orangutans.

The orangutans are threatened by them, and that's where you see a lot of conflict that can erupt.

We do also see, you know, threats from the pet trade and things like that.

But that palm oil is really our, our biggest struggle when it comes to saving orangutans.

Orangutans in the wild are considered semi solitary.

For a long time they were just considered solitary.

But the more we learn about them, the more that we know that especially, you know, when certain trees are in season, certain fruits are ripe, you'll start to see small groups congregate because there's enough food to support more orangutans.

We are so, so fortunate that all of our orangutans do get along and do well together overnight.

We separate them out into two groups just to kind of give them a little bit of a break, give them, give them some time away from each other.

But overall, they interact really well.

They're very good at communicating with each other when they just wanna be left alone and they can go get some, some space really, with any species in a zoo, it's about knowing the individuals, knowing what their needs are, and setting up the best situation for them possible.

- Thank you for staying there.

It's a place of wonder learning and connection that Topeka Zoo is re-imagining what it can be as we're learning from our guest, Christina Castellano, CEO of the Topeka Zoo.

One of my favorite areas is that beautiful rainforest, when it was had fire a few years ago, and the little otters parish.

I mean, you know, it was heartbreaking.

And so Absolutely.

But hey, reborn.

How so?

- Absolutely.

The rainforest is a really special place.

Many of the plants that are in the rainforest are where there were original to when the rainforest was built.

So those plants are actually 50 years old.

Wow.

Last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the rainforest.

And one of the stories I love to tell people is that I was just coming on board as a CEO and I got a phone call from a gentleman who said, welcome to the zoo.

I just want you to know that my dad drove the crane who put the dome onto the rainforest.

Oh my gosh.

Wow.

Gosh.

So I, in that moment, I knew how special this community was, that everybody has a part to play and everyone's connected to the zoo in some way.

Right.

I'm really excited about the renovation project that we're gonna do in the rainforest, because we're gonna have a reptilian focus on the species that we're gonna bring in.

And what I've learned is we used to have a reptile house.

Yes.

Wow.

Back in the day.

Yes.

And it was very popular.

And we wanna bring that back to our community and so they can have the experience of reptiles and amphibians in this remarkable historical space.

So I'm, I'm thrilled for the rainforest discrimination.

- So is there any really exotic reptiles that are coming - Oh.

- Or that you know yet?

- Yeah, we are.

We are hoping that we could bring in Komodo dragons.

- Ooh.

Do - Something really special with a really big reptile, with a really cool reputation.

Yeah.

And to marry that with maybe some smaller animals, some amphibian like poison dart frogs and something that's really beautiful and gives us an opportunity to tell people about rainforest and how special they are.

- I love the poison dark frog.

Oh my God.

Behind the glass.

Yes.

Beautiful animals.

So now there's gonna be a new children's zoo, is that right?

- Absolutely.

So, - And when is that?

- Yeah, so as I mentioned, Tiger Trails and Den Academy is gonna open this year, and as soon as that opens, we're hoping to then put a shovel right in the ground, move the construction crew to the next spot of the zoo, and we're gonna start working on our new Security Benefit, Children's Zoo with an associated play area.

So the next, yeah, so the next project is already designed and we're moving into that space and it's just gonna be one from one project to the next.

And we're gonna open that project, we're gonna open that area next summer in 2027.

Gonna interaction with the kids.

Yes.

It's gonna be a new petting zoo.

So animals will that up.

Animals, people will have that up close and personal connection with animals that we have in this space.

But the theme in this area, too, is very much about Kansas, who we are as Kansans, our history as an agricultural state, state, that a lot of kids don't realize that we feed the world.

That we play a very important role in what's happening in the world and taking care of people and what that looks like.

So a lot of the theming, the conversations, the educational pieces, it's really about who we are as a state and what that looks like and what kids should really be proud about.

- So is there an opportunity then for schools from around Kansas to bring kids in to, you know, experience the new, that new part of the zoo?

- Absolutely.

- Not just our community, but like, bring people in from all over.

- Yeah, we would, we would love to bring in more people to come see our zoo.

We're gonna be working on that as we're communicating this plan.

This is a zoo for everyone in Kansas, for everybody regionally, for people who are also just coming in to visit.

So we are, we're really a zoo for everybody.

And we think this master plan's gonna get a lot of people excited.

- I think so too.

A tourism destination.

Absolutely.

That includes the red panda.

Oh, we've gotta talk about the - Red.

Well, I, I was saying to someone yesterday that they were voted the cutest animal in the world last year.

They're adorable.

They really build that connection.

They have great relationships with their caregivers.

We can show people what we do for training, how we care for them, all sorts of really neat stuff.

But they're an endangered species.

So it goes to the conversation in that space.

It's gonna be called discovering a discovery forest in that space about how important forests are for a lot of animals in this world, and what we can do to protect forests.

Something I really like though about Discovery Forest, again, it's a play on our history.

It's the marriage of Discovering Apes, which was the, the building that, again, Gary Clarke created to bring in gorillas.

- Right.

- And we wanna, we wanna keep that history alive.

So we've put that in the name and we're gonna have a timeline about what, what has really happened in this space.

Why was it important for the zoo and the community?

And how has it helped great apes and great ape conservation.

- So remind me of the lady who did all of the research with apes who just passed with, so - Was it, you know, oh, Jane Goodall.

- Jane Goodall, right?

Yes.

So will there will, is her work going to be somehow incorporated into things that you'll talk about at all that we thinking - You I not directly so far.

That's an interesting idea though.

But what Jane Goodall really did is she just brought attention from the world on the intelligence of great apes.

She worked directly with chimps, but it was her whole platform on making that connection, realizing their intelligence, and all the different things that make great apes really special and worth saving.

- Right.

Well, and there's an intelligence in every animal.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Who else are you bringing in?

I say who?

Because they're our - Pals.

Yeah.

You know, that's, that's really interesting.

'cause when I started in the zoo field, a lot of times we were discouraged about talking about personalities and all the things that we know because it was, you know, when we talk about zoo animals, we don't talk about 'em like that.

And the, and now it's to times have totally changed, - Thank goodness.

- Because if you have a dog at home, or a cat or any animal that you have a connection with, you know, they have a personality.

- Oh yeah.

- Right.

You know, that connection.

And so do zoo animals, it's the same, they have that connection with their caregivers and every animal has its own personality.

Right.

- So, you know, when you, when we talk about personalities, I can't help but to think about how important it is to, you know, remember that all pets are special and zoo animals are pets in a sense.

I mean, we think somehow that maybe by having them in a zoo, it's not their natural habitat, but, and so that kind of makes them pets.

Is that, is that an unfair way to look at - It?

So we, we try not to say pets for zoo animals because of the pet trade.

Sure, sure.

So we don't want people to think that these are animals you can have in their houses, - Because although people are doing it, it's - So scary.

It's, yeah.

We have them at zoos 'beause we have specialized care, we have have staff that are trained, - You know what they're doing.

- Yeah.

Right.

But those, but the staff and the animals, they're family.

- Right, right.

- So in that respect, that connection like we have with our pets at home, that is the connection that staff has.

And it's very, very special.

And the animals know them and their personalities, and our staff know the animals and their personalities.

So, so many of the things that we experience with our own animals at home are the same things that our caregivers experience with zoo - Animals.

So in addition to the New Tiger, and then we're gonna be having reptiles, the reptiles and the Red panda.

What - Else?

Yeah.

So the other project that we haven't talked about are, we're bringing black rhinos.

- Oh - My God.

So those are big.

They're big and they're beautiful.

Yeah.

And they're powerful and they're critically endangered.

Yes.

Which is, you know, it's a story that we have to tell, that's part of our mission, to make sure that people know that even the littlest creatures can be in trouble and so can these incredible, huge, magnificent creatures.

They can also be in trouble.

And you think that they're just so powerful.

How can that be?

But it is true.

So we, we wanna tell their story and rhinos are just, they're magnificent animals.

- Well, thank you so much.

And I know that Betty Lou and I, and all of our viewers are looking forward to seeing how this vision comes to life Christina.

And we'll be back with a few closing thoughts in just a moment.

Please stay with us.

- And we're back with Christina Castellano with a few last thoughts.

Now she's with the world famous Topeka Zoo, in case you are just now joining us.

But we have an opportunity to become "WashedAshore" this summer.

May.

- Yeah.

Okay.

Absolutely.

We're really excited about Washed Ashore.

It's our seasonal exhibit this year, and we're so excited about it because it reflects one of our strategic pillars, which is to reduce single use plastics and to raise awareness around that issue.

So Washed Ashore is actually an art exhibit, and what it's about is volunteers collect plastic off of the coastlines and off of our beaches, and they create these amazing sculptures.

We're bringing in six sculptures this year, and what we've done is we've partnered with other organizations in our community to share this message.

So we'll have two sculptures at the zoo, but there'll also be one at the Discovery Center.

Oh, one at Washburn.

One also in NOTO, and another one at the library.

Wow.

So we're super excited that we are able to share this message across our community in such a fun and interesting way.

- I love it.

So how did this idea come about?

That is crazy.

- Our, our zoo is so committed to reducing single use plastics because we wanna protect the Kaw.

Right.

So our story is always about what enters the Kaw locally and flows to the ocean and what does that look like.

And when our conservation director Dennis reached out to Washed Ashore, they were so pleased that a zoo in the middle of the United States as literally as far away as you can get from an ocean, said, Hey, we, we wanna do this art exhibit.

We wanna bring it to our community.

So they were so excited.

We were so excited, and we're just thrilled to do something really fun and interesting and share art to save the sea.

- I think it's wonderful.

I think it's fabulous.

And you guys do so many great things throughout the year too.

We have the times when you can go in and sample food.

Of course Zoo Lights is huge.

Absolutely.

What are the things do you have going on at the zoo that maybe somebody who's not familiar would be interested - In?

Yeah, we have a few new events this year.

One is called Boots and Bow Ties and it's gonna be a, a festival around line dancing.

And just a, just some fun.

Okay.

We're going, we're going some fun stuff to bring people to the zoo, to just have a good time and learn about animals.

Of course, we'll be doing Zoo Brew and also the, some of the regular things that we do, like Zoo lights.

Zoo lights is, is huge for us.

I love it.

Yeah.

To be able to impact that many people and be part of the family traditions that happened in our, happened in our community is just thrilling for us.

So yeah.

So we'll have some new, and we'll have some of the family traditions that we've always had.

- Exciting.

I'm ready.

Yes.

We're definitely going to the line dancing and the brew.

- Yes.

We'll do, we'll do all that.

And we need to touch on the gardens.

Kay McFarland Gardens just - Right quick.

Oh yeah.

So we, we love the garden.

We invite people to come into the garden, experience it.

Sometimes people come to the zoo and don't realize the garden is, is part of - Setting.

I know.

- Absolutely.

So we, we encourage everyone to come in to experience the garden.

The garden was designed in a way that it was a garden for all seasons.

So it doesn't matter if it's spring, summer, you can come in in the winter and it looks just as spectacular and beautiful as it does at any other time of the year.

- It has been fabulous having you.

That's all the time we have today, unfortunately.

But thank you to Christina Castellano for joining us and inspiring this discussion.

You can watch this program again at watch.ktwu.org - And if you're so inspired to learn more about our guests, find out what's coming up on future shows and get access to additional content, be sure to visit our website at www.ktwu.org/inspire - Inspiring women, inspiring us to imagine what's possible for our community and beyond inspiring you on KTWU.

Thank you for watching.

- Inspire is sponsored by the Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation and by the estate of Ray and Ann Goldsmith.