Famous animal handler visits Luna
NISD Communications Department
November 10, 2006
Animal house : Jack Hanna visits Luna Middle School
The animals were let out of their cages at Luna Middle School last week, and some teachers did a little monkeying around of their own.
And Principal Lynn Pierson was thrilled.
World renowned animal expert Jack Hanna visited the school Friday afternoon, and brought a menagerie of friends, including an alligator, a bald eagle and two Himalayan bears.
For most of the 150 students who won a chance to see Hanna, it was the first time they got to see such exotic animals outside of an enclosure.
“It was great,” said seventh grader Julian Martinez, who got to sit in the front row. “It was one of the best animal shows I’ve seen. I haven’t seen anything like this up close.”
Hanna is best known to kids as the host of Saturday morning’s “Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures,” a nationally syndicated television series. He also introduces America to unique creatures as a frequent guest on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “Good Morning America” and “The Larry King Show.”
He’s been a media darling since the 1980s when he served as executive director of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, where he currently serves as director emeritus. Today, he spends much of his time traveling the world to work with animals and to gather footage for his television show.
Hanna’s job as spokesperson for the SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Adventure Camps brought him to San Antonio last week, just after a trip to Rwanda, where he spent some time hiking with mountain gorillas and visiting orphaned children.
In Rwanda, students get one piece of paper every two to three weeks and must share pencils, he told the Luna middle schoolers.
“We really don’t realize what we have here in our schools,” he said. “Without education, the world has nothing.”
Hanna spent more than an hour at Luna educating students and teachers about the habitat, diet and lifestyle of the animals he brought with him from SeaWorld.
“It’s a great big deal to have him here, and he’s wonderful with the kids,” said Principal Lynn Pierson, who got to carry around a baby red kangaroo for students and staff to see. “I think the teachers enjoyed it as much as the kids.”
Hanna also invited history teacher Karl Lawson up to the stage and let a kinkajou, or honey bear – typically found in Central and South America – crawl in his hair.
“I liked the kinkajou (the best),” eighth grader Alex Rush said. “It was really cute, especially because it was crawling on my history teacher’s head.”
At the end of his presentation, Hanna answered questions from the students and said he was impressed by their knowledge of animals.
“You all are a great school,” he said.
Before he left, the school gave him a Luna Longhorn T-shirt – in hopes they’ll see him wear it on his next Letterman appearance.
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