Exonian Profiles
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“It was love at first sight,” says John Lehnhardt ’66 of his first encounter with Indu and Keke. That devotion has expanded over 26 years to include Chanda, Shanti and dozens of other African and Asian elephants who have come under Lehnhardt’s care as a curator and an animal trainer. “My passion,” Lehnhardt says, “is the welfare of elephants. My career has been dedicated not only to making life better for these animals, both in the care of humans and in the wild, but also increasing the public’s awareness of elephants. Empathy for these creatures will, I hope, encourage humans do what must be done to conserve space for elephants and to conserve elephants themselves.” A lifelong animal enthusiast, Lehnhardt started as a kennelmaster at Chicago’s Anti-Cruelty Society. At the suggestion of a friend, and at the behest of his future wife, he took a test to become a keeper at the Lincoln Park Zoo. He aced the exam, with the highest grade of all 500 applicants, and moved directly to the elephant house. From that day on, he has cared for elephants and numerous other animals, mostly mammals, at Canada’s Calgary Zoo, the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. and now at Disney’s Animal Kingdom where he is director of animal operations. He serves on the boards of the Elephant Manager’s Association and the International Elephant Foundation. An acknowledged expert on all areas of elephant care, he has written and spoken extensively on the species and its breeding, transportation, handling, training, feeding, testing and conservation. What is it about these giant beasts that intrigues and absorbs Lehnhardt? “Their appeal comes from their intelligence and their social structure,” he explains. “They return kindness with kindness. They return emotional investment with friendship. There is a lot about them that reminds us of the better parts of ourselves. I never ever get bored around elephants.” Lehnhardt recalls the first time his father came to visit him shortly after he began his zoo career. “He looked at me cleaning the elephant barn and said, ‘Man, all that education—Exeter, the University of Chicago—and you’re shoveling manure in the elephant barn.’ I shot back, ‘And I absolutely love it.’ He replied, ‘That’s good enough for me.’ ” But much of Lehnhardt’s work is driven by the knowledge that elephant populations face daunting challenges to their futures. “In Asia there are fewer than 50,000 elephants, and one-third of those are working elephants, in the care of humans. The long-range future of those animals is very much in doubt. There is far less for them to do and their value is decreasing. Historically, elephants were beasts of burden, used by a logging industry that is now dying. Thousands of elephants and their owners are struggling to find a way to support themselves.” The opportunity for zoos, he believes, lies in helping people understand these problems, and showing how stewardship and a focused effort can protect elephants in Africa and Asia. “We have to look to the future and devise management techniques that will help us conserve animals’ habitat,” Lehnhardt says, “and foster an ethic that uses fewer resources. Elephants are a vanguard. If you preserve a habitat for elephants many other species are also saved in the process. The key is to bring to people the message of how we as humans need to change our behavior, so that today, and into the future, we will still have elephants and all other wild things and places.” —Julie Quinn |
