The Bronx Zoo is, for many, an urban oasis. But because of one man, William Conway, who died last week at the age of 91, it is also a leading conservation institution aimed at preserving endangered species and educating the public about the creatures and their natural habitats.
In its own reality show, launched on Animal Planet in 2017, the Bronx Zoo proudly proclaims that it is transforming how children and their parents view zoos: not as rows of cages displaying the wild and wonderful but as opportunities to encounter animals as they would be in their home habitats. Conway pioneered that idea after taking over what the New York Times described as “impoverished” facilities in the 1980s, transforming several of the city’s zoological parks, introducing captive breeding programs, and forcing the zoos beyond their own gates and out into cooperation with their communities and other institutions.
“By the time Dr. Conway retired,” the New York Times noted, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the Bronx Zoo, the Queens Zoo, the Central Park Zoo, and several other wildlife parks and aquariums in and around New York City, “was involved in more than 300 conservation projects in 52 countries.”
Attendance at the zoos and aquariums under Conway blossomed, as did the zoo’s budget and fundraising, now believed to be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Conway fostered his love of animals in childhood, starting as a butterfly collector at age 4, a collection he donated to his elementary school when he left, and moved on to the St. Louis Zoo as a young adult. He became director of the Bronx Zoo in 1961 and initially lived on-premises; five years later, he became director of the New York Zoological Society, which eventually became the Wildlife Conservation Society and is now, according to its own literature, the “world’s largest network of urban wildlife parks.”
After gaining control, he refurbished the existing zoos and revolutionized their mission, pledging to offer “care, ethics, integrity, and conservation.” During his time at the zoo, until his retirement at age 70, he, according to trade publication Zoophoria, “worked to build state-of-the-art habitat complexes which not only provide top notch care and welfare to animals, but also educated the public about the plight” of endangered species.
Conway’s plan was simple: Most Americans, he thought, would never see nonnative animals in the wild, perhaps encountering nothing other than rats, raccoons, and opossums within 10 miles from their homes. To encourage New York residents to care for the wild fauna, experiences needed to be accessible, beautiful, and meaningful.
After all, that was Conway’s mission, even if the zoo was his passion.
“That’s where conservation takes place,” Conway told Zoophoria of his idea to use zoos to encourage global conservation and fund conservation projects. “It’s great having gorillas in New York but you’re not saving gorillas there.”
“Right now, about 95% of all terrestrial vertebrates are humans or domestic animals,” Conway said in one of his final interviews. “Less than 5% are wild animals. That’s dropped significantly since 1970. There are many figures that are very, very discouraging. Birds are down 50% of what they were. What we’re dealing with now is a very desperate extinction crisis.”
“The best things zoos can do is fight for parks and reserves around the world,” he noted.
Emily Zanotti is the managing editor of the Daily Wire.
