JACK HANNA: The Zoo TV Tour

Energetic Jack Hanna, director of the Columbus (Ohio) Zoo, has become a household name thanks to his appearances with creatures great and small on “Good Morning, America,” “Larry King Live!” and, most memorably, “Late Night With David Letterman.”

Hanna, 45, is the host of the nationally syndicated weekly series “ZooLife With Jack Hanna.” The series, in its second season, focuses on habitats, wildlife parks, reserves, zoos, aquariums and conservation efforts around the globe. This season, Hanna visits many U.S. zoos, including those in Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Toledo, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Columbus and Knoxville. He also travels to Great Britain, Holland, Costa Rica, Zimbabwe, the Australian outback and mainland China.

The Knoxville, Tenn., native has always loved animals. Before he was appointed director of the declining Columbus Zoo in 1978, Hanna had started a pet shop and petting zoo, worked for a wildlife adventure company and directed a small Florida zoo. He wrote his autobiography, “Monkeys on the Interstate,” in 1989.

Hanna discussed animals and “ZooLife” with Times Staff Writer Susan King.

Do you think you have the best job in the world?

It is something. It is obviously time-consuming. That is what is getting very difficult.

I probably will become a director emeritus of the zoo in January. Right now, it is one of the top five zoos in the country. It has 400 employees, so you can’t do both (the zoo and TV show).

What condition was the Columbus Zoo in when you became director in 1978?

They were getting ready to close it--lack of funds, lack of leadership, lack of public interest. My main thing and my main forte was, and is, building up enthusiasm and a team.

I went to Columbus when I was 31. (Annual) attendance was down to almost less than 300,000 people and today it is at 1.5 million. What I did was paint all the stuff that was old and made it clean and gave the employees uniforms. We passed some tax levees to fix the zoo up. I started hiring the right people. I now have 450 acres instead of 120. It is going to be a very hard thing to make this move (from the zoo), but hopefully it will prove to be right.

(“ZooLife”) is in 150 markets. The show is a show for everybody. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do it. I wanted a show that was for anybody from 2 to 80 years old, like “Wild Kingdom.”

I wanted something really fast-paced. I am a real hyper person and I didn’t want any story longer than four minutes. I read a book by Walt Disney in the ‘50s. He said, “I would rather entertain and hope people learn, than to teach and hope people are entertained.” I have always lived by that quote.

I think a few of our first shows were too serious. I didn’t like them at all. Now I think we have the right mix.

Are zoos different in Europe from those in the United States?

It is a different philosophy. You don’t have all of these barriers because of insurance. Insurance has almost shut us down as far as how close people can be.

I did a story in Holland where you actually walk with big spider monkeys. They climb all over you. That could never be done in this country.

As far as advancement in animal exhibits and technology, what we are doing in this country is surpassing anybody in the world now. Ninety-eight percent of our animals are born in captivity in the zoos, not in the world.

Are most of those animals hand-raised?

Twenty years ago, when an animal had a baby, we would take the baby away from the mother because everybody was afraid the baby would die. Now we try to avoid that.

It is obviously better if it could be raised by the mother. We do try to come in some contact because if an animal gets sick we don’t want it to be so afraid of the vet or us we can’t treat it.

We would rather have the animals raised by their mother--it costs a great deal of money to put these animals in the nursery.

How did you become involved with “Late Night with David Letterman”

The whole thing started in 1983 on “Good Morning, America” when (the zoo) had twin gorillas. (“GMA”) came there and filmed the gorillas. Ever since 1983, I have been the wildlife correspondent for “Good Morning, America.”

In 1985, the producer of “David Letterman” called me up and said, “We need some animal person who won’t get offended by Dave.” I said, “I don’t get offended by anybody.”

What is your relationship like with Letterman?

I never say hello to him when I do the show and never say goodbye when I finish. It is better that way. When I go on I have surprises for him.

It is a very difficult show to do, though, because you have to know when to have fun with animals and when not to make fun of animals.

While having fun with the animals you have to be very careful. But I know exactly what is happening. I have never injured anything in 22 years.

“ZooLife With Jack Hanna” airs Sundays at noon on KGTV , Saturdays at 6:30 a.m. on KABC and 8 a.m. on KADY.