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Article: THE HIPPEST ZOO KEEPER HUSTLIN' JACK HANNA IS FLIRTING WITH FAME
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- June 19, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1987 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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POWELL, Ohio - There's a hustler living out on this flat
land, a fast- talking man in love with cheetahs and bears and
donkeys and baby kangaroos. He got here a decade ago, invited to
get the Columbus, Ohio, zoo in order. Back then, the zoo was on the
verge of collapse: the place had gone bad, workers were unhappy.
But this was a P.T. Barnum-type hustler come to town, looking for
tents and wanting to build a big show.
No one knew how serious Jack Hanna was. He went into Columbus,
20 miles away, and, dressed in a safari suit, started talking zoo.
"I wasn't trying to be Marlin Perkins. I'd been wearing a safari
suit since I was 12," he says.
He visited schools. He'd charge into a ...