Brandie Smith, PhD has been John and Adrienne Mars Director at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute since November 2021. In this role, she oversees both the 163-acre Zoo facility in Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek Park, which sees around 1.8 million visitors a year, and the 3,200-acre Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute campus in Front Royal, Virginia.
She has been with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s animal care staff since 2008. By fusing the best practices in animal care with the most recent developments in reproductive biology, she contributed to the revival of the zoo’s giant panda programme.
Smith also worked with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) for ten years as vice president of animal conservation, before joining the Zoo. She advanced multi-institution initiatives to conserve amphibians throughout her time in office. She oversaw the formation of the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, an alliance of more than 30 conservation groups that, from 1999 to 2009, concentrated on finding and promoting solutions to the bushmeat crisis in Africa and across the globe.
Smith also contributed to the beginning of the Butterfly Conservation Initiative, which was founded in 2001 by AZA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to include zoos and aquariums in the recovery of butterfly species that are categorised as threatened or endangered in the US.
In an interview with blooloop in 2022, Smith identified three priorities for zoos in the 21st century:
“Number one is to ensure the animals are happy and healthy, to be very focused on animal welfare, animal wellness, and to make sure we’re meeting all of their psychological, social, and physiological, needs. If we’re not doing that well, then we shouldn’t be a zoo.
“Number two is engaging in conservation; actively being a force in biodiversity conservation. It’s saving animals, saving species, and saving biodiversity.
“Number three is taking advantage of the unique opportunity that we have, and that no other conservation organisation does, which is inspiring and educating the millions of people who come through our doors every single year.”