The San Antonio Zoo has undergone an incredible transformation since Tim Morrow took over as the CEO in 2014. From their goals to the way they interact with our community, the Zoo is changing stereotypes. The mission of the San Antonio Zoo now includes much more emphasis on conservation, education and interaction. Tim could speak for days on these issues but I am glad we got one hour of his time.

Transcript:

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Justin Hill: Hello, and bienvenido San Antonio. Welcome to The Alamo Hour, discussing the people, places, and passion that make our city. My name is Justin Hill, a local attorney, a proud San Antonian, and keeper of chickens and bees. On The Alamo Hour, you'll get to hear from the people that make San Antonio great, and unique, and the best-kept secret in Texas. We're glad that you're here. [applause]

All right. Welcome to The Alamo Hour. Today's guest is Tim Morrow. Tim is the CEO of the San Antonio Zoo. He has previously worked with, and correct me if I get it wrong, but I think Fiesta, Texas, the San Antonio Spurs, and SeaWorld, basically all big hospitality groups in the city. Since 2014, he's been the CEO of the zoo. In that time, you've seen a lot of the projects that have changed at the zoo. I mean, the Kiddie Park moved over, which a lot of people know about, the Will Smith Zoo School was launched. If you've been there lately, the rhinos Africa exhibit has become a whole new expanded habitat for animals to share space.

There's a Jaguar habitat going in, the list is on and on, but some of the more interesting things that I learned about recently is the work they've done to bring animals back from the brink of extinction or endangered status. There's a lot he's done here. I was recently lucky to be appointed to the San Antonio Zoological Society or the zoo board. I've gotten to meet Tim, I asked him to come on. Thanks for being here.

Tim Morrow: Thanks for having me.

Justin: Tim, I do this with everybody. I start with just some general questions. The idea behind my podcast was to get to talk to people of San Antonio, share their stories, so some background questions. You're running the zoo, do you have pets?

Tim: I do have pets. I have two dogs and a cat. Then I live at Leon Springs area, so we have random wild animals at all times, around the house, or sometimes in the house.

Justin: Nothing exotic?

Tim: Nothing exotic. No. I leave that to the zoo, to the professionals.

Justin: In your life have you ever had exotic animals?

Tim: I have had snakes and fish, and those kinds of things, but nothing crazy that you would expect maybe some of the workers at a zoo to have at their house.

Justin: Yes. I think that's fair. When I'm at the zoo, I feel like a kid, do you have a favorite animal?

Tim: It really changes. It's really whatever habitat we're working on becomes my favorite animal, because you really dive so deep into learning about that animal because what we really try to do now with habitats is create natural spaces for them that are enriching, and so you need to learn as much about them as possible. Right now, we're working on jaguar, a big overhead catwalk system so jaguar has become just an animal that I'm fascinated with. I mean they're a big predator, they're strong, they're stealth, and just what they do is incredible. If you watch them hunt and grab crocodiles out of the water and pull them up in trees, it's just an amazing cat.

The fact they used to be right here in south Texas, and that they're still jaguars three hours south of the border into Mexico, it's not unrealistic that someday Jaguars could make their way back in...