Kirby Fowler joined the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore as president & CEO in 2020, after fifteen years as president of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, Inc., (DPOB) and executive director of the Downtown Management Authority. He took over from Don Hutchinson, who stepped down on 30 June 2020.
During his tenure at Downtown Partnership, Fowler and his team oversaw the transformation of Downtown Baltimore into the City’s fastest-growing neighbourhood, successfully advocated for the adaptive reuse of more than 70 major properties, spearheaded the revitalization of parks and plazas, led the reinvention of the Pratt Street corridor, teamed with the City to launch the popular Charm City Circulator, and expanded homeless outreach services, among other initiatives.
Fowler also led the creation of the Station North and Bromo Tower arts districts, launched Baltimore Restaurant Week, and oversaw the rebirth of the City’s public markets.
He spoke to blooloop about the zoo, its history and mission, its conservation work, and the new master plan.
Moving to Maryland Zoo
Fowler, who is a lawyer by trade, begins:
“I was involved in litigation for many years. Eventually, I determined that wasn’t the best fit for my personality, so I got involved in city government work, doing economic and neighbourhood development work.”
This led to his running the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, a private nonprofit entity that partners with government to improve the downtown area of Baltimore, in terms of economic development and advocacy, marketing, events, hospitality, and so on.”
“I ran that nonprofit for 16 years,” he says. At this point, he adds: “My teenage daughter was volunteering at the zoo. She kept on telling me what a great time she was having here. I was thinking about looking for something new to do, to keep my energy levels up, and the CEO position came open.
“I had no animal care background, except for owning some rescue dogs here and there, but the nonprofit management side was useful, apparently. A lot of hospitals nowadays have business administrators who don’t know the first thing about medicine. In some ways, it’s similar to that, though I’ve learned a lot lately.”
Transferrable skills
Additionally, many of the principles behind the work he was doing previously are applicable to conservation:
“What drove me to live in Baltimore and work in economic development was the concept of smart growth, which is about growing in areas where there’s already development, where there are existing utilities, rather than going into farmlands and tearing up property for new developments. It’s somewhat consistent that I’ve been interested in trying to make sure that climate change is addressed, and that habitats are preserved for animals.”
“I read recently that over the past 60 years we have lost 40% of our species. Some of these are smaller insects or amphibians and reptiles, but it’s terrifying.”
Weathering the storm
His predecessor, Don Hutchinson, took the zoo on in 2008. He comments:
“It was a tough time for the zoo, but he was able to stabilize it and create a great relationship with the state. The unique condition for me is that I started at the zoo on 1 April 2020.”
Immediately, as the pandemic hit, the zoo closed down:
“We were shut down for three very important months for us in terms of generating revenue. That was tough, and so was engaging with my employees, with our board of directors, all through Zoom. Then, over the next two years, we had the capacity restrictions and changes of rules to contend with, though we did benefit from being an outdoor establishment when we ultimately opened the doors.”
There were unavoidable staff losses as a result of COVID:
“When I got here already 60 employees out of 220 had been laid off. We were able to bring back 40 of them, but still, about 20 didn’t make it. It’s just very unfortunate.”
The revenue lost over that period was in excess of a million dollars.
“It definitely hindered some growth, but the attendance has come back, and we’ve been able to hit some other initiative,” he says. “We’re feeling good.”
Maryland Zoo’s mission
The zoo’s mission is to engage people in the wonders of the living world through their personal interactions with animals:
“It’s first and foremost about animals,” he explains. “But it’s also our connection to the animals: how our educators, our keepers, connect our guests to the animals. By making those connections, we hope to increase empathy for animals and wildlife, and to get people to expand their interest in the conservation of wildlife and wild places.”
The two goals are, he says, are imperative:
“Zoos used to be all about how animals entertain us. We’ve now moved beyond that. Animals have choice and control over their settings, and the focus is on how we do a better job of protecting their natural habitats by what we learned here.”
Kirby Fowler[Our mission] is first and foremost about animals. But it’s also our connection to the animals: how our educators, our keepers, connect our guests to the animals. By making those connections, we hope to increase empathy for animals and wildlife, and to get people to expand their interest in the conservation of wildlife and wild places.
It is, he says, about forging an emotional connection, and about a call to action:
“We try to do what we can in terms of signage, but an educator who describes an animal to you, or who does some training, will create a memory that sticks with you.”
It is these connections that prompt behaviour change:
“That call to action is very important to us.”
Conservation partnerships
The zoo’s conservation partnerships, he comments, are perhaps the most exciting aspect of its work:
“Most recently we took on a leadership role in the geo-tracking of African elephants in Botswana. We were able to put geo-tracking devices on 10 male elephants. Because of climate change and the loss of habitats, the elephants are starting to come increasingly closer to the villages in Botswana, and there’s conflict.”
“We’re trying to figure out why the elephants are there, and how we can direct them to go elsewhere so they don’t risk death to themselves or the humans.”
Working with endangered species at Maryland Zoo
Another initiative concerns critically endangered Panamanian Golden Frogs. Since 1999, Maryland Zoo has been partnering with other scientific, educational, and zoological institutions in North America and Panama on Project Golden Frog, a conservation initiative that began in the 1990s, bringing institutions in the Republic of Panama and the United States together in a common cause:
“We have saved them from extinction, but they only live in an artificial environment. We would like to reintroduce them into the wild, but the deadly amphibian chytrid fungus that thrives in Panama’s cold mountain streams could lead to their death and extinction.”
The fungus, which causes a disease called chytridiomycosis, has wiped out all remaining populations of Panamanian golden frogs in the wild and has killed off entire populations of amphibians in isolated regions of Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the United States.
“We’re the leads in that, working with other zoos,” Fowler explains. “We are trying a whole bunch of things. So, we’re looking at the water they consume, for example. We have a room devoted to the research, where we’ve got four different types of water solutions to see if any of them help the frogs to survive better and to fight the chytrid.
“Perhaps just by breeding the stronger frogs together, we might come up with a strain of frogs that are more resistant.”
Species survival projects
The zoo, as a member of AZA, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, works in conjunction with other zoos on species survival programmes:
“We partner with other zoos to preserve our own species within our zoo. As part of a cooperatively managed species survival plan programme, the zoos come together and figure out which animals should be transferred to which zoos in order that these species continue to thrive. We’re a partner in that. We are transferring animals in and out of the zoo all the time, to help enhance the collective collection.”
Reaching a wider audience
Reaching out beyond the zoo’s usual visitorship to connect with new and under-served audiences is, he explains, an important aspect of the zoo’s work:
“We believe it’s important to connect to the community. We are in the centre of Baltimore City. Just a few blocks away, you start to hit impoverished neighbourhoods. We can’t remain an isolated entity; it’s important that we connect with those communities. We have a state grant, which enables us to bring in school trips for free. That’s critical to us. These are public school students, and they are coming in and experiencing our animals.”
Many of these families can’t afford the membership or ticket prices, so this connection is crucial.
“Whenever we see a group in need, we try to jump in and assist,” he adds. When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, many refugees had to come to our country. Right outside our park, there’s a building that’s housing many Afghan refugees. We were approached by the organisers who asked that because those people were having a hard time adjusting, as you might imagine, could they experience the zoo, because their lives are very difficult right now.
Additionally, families who have children with autism or a sensory sensitivity issue are provided for:
“We have often provided free admission to them, and hold days devoted to those groups where we can tailor the experience so it’s not as overwhelming.”
Maryland Zoo’s new master plan
In August, Maryland Zoo released a new strategic master plan, the culmination of an inclusive, multi-year process, establishing a clear vision for the Zoo’s future, and guiding the institution’s growth and development into the next decade, and beyond.
Under the plan, the Zoo will establish a mix of new exhibits, animal species, and upgrades to existing experiences. Behind the scenes, the plan will lead to improved staff areas, event spaces, and community engagement.
Fowler comments:
“There are many different aspects to the master plan. Some concern buildings, but others about people and animals.
“Our zoo is the third oldest zoo in the country. It came into existence in what we call the main valley historic part of the zoo. Those cages that were originally built were very small, bad for the animals, and bad for our keepers.
“About 40 years ago, our zoo started to move those animals out to the back part of our zoo, where we had much more space, and they have much bigger habitats and environments that are much better for the animals. The main valley was shut down for 18 years so that when people enter the zoo, they don’t see animals except for prairie dogs for about the first 15 minutes of their experience.”
Improving habitats
Clearly, this is less than ideal:
“Now that we’ve provided better habitats for existing animals, we have to work out how we fill up the front. We plan to keep some of the empty cages just for educational purposes, so people can see the way things used to be, but we also want to create some new habitats towards the front.”
Much of the plan concerns this. He adds:
“In addition to the physical, there are the people. Our employees need better facilities; they need better compensation. We need to improve the diversity of our workforce.”
Signature programmes at Maryland Zoo
Maryland Zoo has five signature animal programmes. He outlines them:
“The African elephant initiative I mentioned is an important project of ours because we have four very precious African elephants here. They’re wonderful and so smart. We learn a lot from them that we can take out of our work in Africa.”
“African penguins are also very important. We are the leaders in the country in terms of African penguins, and, outside of Amsterdam, we’re the second in the world to South Africa. We have around a hundred of these penguins, and right now we’re breeding eight of them. Again, we learn from working with our penguins here, and then we go to Namibia or South Africa to help the penguin in the wild.
“Then we have great apes. The chimpanzees are just wonderful to interact with. There are the Panamanian Golden Frogs, of course, and, finally, the Maryland native species. It’s important for people to know that, right in our backyard, we have species that need to be protected.”
The value of zoos
As a final word, Fowler addresses the people who question the value of zoos:
“In an ideal world, zoos probably would not exist. However, it’s always so important to connect people with wildlife, and the issues facing that wildlife. All those who come to our zoo, either by buying a ticket or through our free admission schemes, get to experience an African elephant and understand and connect with how important it is to preserve them elsewhere. The importance of this can’t be emphasized enough.
“Also, while it’s important to have these animals here so people can connect with them emotionally and learn from them, they need to have choices and control over their environments. The good zoos have created really good, natural habitats, and care about holistic approaches where our care of these animals in the zoo is linked to the preservation of the natural habitats for these animals.
“It’s important to remember that it’s about not just what we do at the zoo, but out in the world as well.”
