Jack Hanna flew halfway around the world to spend one hour with his family and 14 mountain gorillas. This was depicted in one of four videos he showed to a full Goldstein Auditorium Monday night where Hanna displayed his true passion for sharing nature with the world.

Hanna, after arriving in Rwanda, along with two of his daughters and wife, trekked through two miles of potato fields and climbed a mountain to spend just 60 minutes with 14 of the 630 remaining mountain gorillas left in the world.

‘It was one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life and in my career,’ Hanna said in the video clip, a preview of what is to come on his new show, ‘Into the Wild with Jack Hanna.’

‘To get to be with my family while witnessing such a sight – these 3,000-pound gorillas only two feet away from me – and to get to share that moment was incredible.’

It is this idea of exposing true nature to the masses that Hanna has fashioned his career around. At his event Monday night, between video clips highlighting milestones in his 35-year career as an animal expert and blooper reels from ‘The Late Show with David Letterman,’ Hanna showcased some of the rarest animals in the world.

All this for the sake of educating a room full of elementary school kids, college students and retired grandparents about the world and their place in it.

‘We as humans can learn a lot about life from animals,’ Hanna told the audience. ‘We shouldn’t use the phrase ‘behaving like an animal’ as a negative, because often times they know more than we do.’

More than 20 animals were in Goldstein Auditorium, ranging from a swift fox, serval cat (a creature depicted in Egyptian art as early as 3000 B.C.), kookaburra, lemur, pure-blooded dingo (as most dingos have now bred with domesticated dogs to produce a mixed species), hyrax (though the size of a guinea pig, cited as the closest living relative to elephants) and one of only 320 remaining clouded leopards.

Hanna has spent his career attempting to educate people on the importance of species preservation and protection. One of the last of four videos shown was a five-minute feature on Anna Merz, a woman who in 1982 used her life-savings to purchase land in Kenya to build a black rhino sanctuary. Hanna toured the heavily guarded facility and showcased it – and Merz’s contribution to endangered-animal conservation – to discuss the world’s responsibility to protect its animals.

‘What we can do conservation-wise is endless,’ Hanna said to the audience. ‘I wish I was younger and in your shoes.’

And some in the audience wanted to be in Hanna’s shoes, like David Katz, a sophomore wildlife science major.

‘I want to be Jack Hanna,’ Katz said. ‘In these days of global warming and overpopulation, people need to realize that the animal world is a high priority, and that we need to protect their place in the environment.’

Hanna has made it his life’s mission to spread the word on environmental issues and animal endangerment. After the Rwandan massacre in the late 90s, Hanna built a home for the country’s new president Paul Kagame in order to boost tourism and help rebuild the country – all while helping to highlight the region’s natural habitats and rare animals – which need protection.

In addition, Hanna has spent 25 years in show business, appearing on ‘Letterman,’ ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show,’ ‘Good Morning America’ and through his own television shows and films. One fan, 3-year old Owen Dobson of Manlius, N.Y., brought two videos for Hanna to sign.

‘It’s our goal that all ages learn about the earth, conservation and preservation,’ Julie Hanna, Hanna’s daughter, said. She serves as an animal handler at events and works at the Columbus, Ohio Zoo, where Jack spent years rebuilding it to make it one of the most popular and famous national zoos.

‘Seeing animals up close will hopefully lead to increased appreciation for the world,’ he said. ‘We have to remember that we’re not the only ones who live here.’

akalliso@syr.edu

Published on February 11, 2008 at 12:00 pm