For all his success, Hanna has also seen the grim realities that beleaguer the animal kingdom. Last year, he was called on by police in Zanesville, Ohio, where a man released several large and exotic animals from cages in his home before taking his life. With dangerous species such as lions and bears threatening to move into residential areas, the police killed 49 of the animals. While consulting police on site, Hanna and the
Columbus Zoo took the surviving animals back to their facilities.
Today, Hanna’s career has covered decades, continents and species. On March 17, he will host two performances at The Weinberg Center for the Arts, where he’ll show clips from throughout his career and introduce Frederick audiences to exotic animals.
A&E: What will you be doing when you come to the Weinberg?
Hanna: Anybody who’s three years old and up to 100 enjoys our shows. We’ve had mostly all sellouts the last three months. What we do is, we come there and sign autographs before the show. I talk to people about what they’d like to see. I do my show. We have some of my favorite clips from my shows from all over the world from the last 25 years. I show a six minute clip then I show some live animals, show another clip, live animals, another clip, live animal. That kind of thing. Some of the animals will probably be a cheetah, the world’s fastest land mammal, Siberian lynx, a sloth, flamingo, penguins, all kinds of stuff. I used to have three to four animals between each segment. We usually bring 14 to 16 animals.
A&E: Does your show have an overall message or theme?
Hanna: Basically, the theme is very simple: Touch the hearts to teach the mind. That’s my basic theme of the show. It’s a fast show by the way, there are no breaks. Hour and a half show with no breaks. It’s a fun show, but when you’ve left here you learn about the animal world and conservation and how you can help, what you can do. I tell some of my stories about what’s happened to me when I was filming around the world. All that kind of stuff.
A&E: The average person hears about conservation, but probably isn’t sure what they can do. What would you tell them?
Hanna: Typically the day to day person can go to the local zoological park. Visit them and they’ll have support organizations. For example, we have 44 projects around the world we support at the Columbus Zoo. ... They already have the people there working. They already have the computers, they already have the buildings. A lot of [the organizations] you give to, half the stuff goes to rent, half the stuff goes to salaries we already have people taking care of all this. When someone gives to our project ... 98 percent of their money goes to that animal or that project, and we talk about some of those projects through my videos. All my videos are very moving. None of them are graphic, but some will bring tears to your eyes when you hear stories about some of these animals that are rescued. That kind of thing. Then you see these people and [I ask], ‘How do you want to help this person in Africa?’ And I tell them how to do that. It’s stories about people as much as animals and people that dedicate their lives to animals is what the show’s about, as well.
A&E: How have you seen the roles of zoos change since you started?
Hanna: The role of the zoological park is going to increase, because ... last year 176 million people went to zoos in this country. The largest recreation in America was visitation to zoos and aquariums, [and that’s] including pro football, basketball, all of them. One hundred and seventy six million counted attendants. The roles of zoos are changing drastically versus 30 years ago when people didn’t even want to go to zoos. Zoos are an economic power for a community as well as one of the last hopes for some of these animals. Everybody gains from going to a zoo or an aquarium.
A&E: Have zoos shifted their focus to conservation?
Hanna: Last year, the zoos in this country gave $38 million to conservation in the wild. Thirty-eight million dollars they gave to conservation in the wild. It’s amazing.
A&E: How are the animals from Zanesville doing since you took them in?
Hanna: They’re doing good. We’re getting ready to pass one of the hardest bills in the country to make sure people don’t have pet lions and tigers in their backyards.
A&E: Would the legislation impact the markets that sold the animals?
Hanna: Let’s hope it does before someone gets killed. We’re trying to have people have responsible ownership where the animals live in not poor conditions. Like what happened in Zanesville. You don’t want that to ever happen again.
A&E: Great. Well I think that should cover all my bases, Jack.
Hanna: It was good to talk to you. Just make sure you come out to the show. But, again, the show’s going to be fun for everybody. I’m going to sign some autographs before the show and get to talk to everybody and the show is never the same, by the way.
A&E: What is the range of the stories you cover?
Hanna: I go back to when I started. Some of these videos are 30 years old. My blooper tape is. I got a David Letterman show in 1986 where he milked a goat. It’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen.
A&E: You and Dave have had a good relationship for a while now.
Hanna: I’m the longest-running guest on his show. Four or five times a year since 1985 so that’s almost good Lord, that’s 27 years or whatever.
A&E: Has there been an animal that has really surprised Dave?
Hanna: Not really. An ostrich had diarrhea on his show once. I’m just waiting to bring Bigfoot on there.
Photo by Rick A. Prebeg
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