The idea behind this show is pretty simple: We invite scholars, makers, and professionals out to brunch for an informal conversation about their work, and then we turn those brunches into a podcast.

It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

And this episode is unlike any of the first 30 or so that we’ve done. No food was eaten—at least not by either of the humans—and no coffee was consumed. There was no table, and we didn’t even sit down.

No, we traded in the trappings of brunch for a trip to the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend. Just a four-mile drive from the Notre Dame campus, it is home to a collection of animals and conservation programs that you might not expect to find on 23 acres in northern Indiana.

Potawatomi has been continuously accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since 1987 and received its most recent five-year accreditation this fall. To put that in perspective, less than 10 percent of wildlife exhibitors licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture meet the more comprehensive AZA standards.

Josh Sisk, the Potawatomi Zoo’s executive director, took host Ted Fox for a walking tour on a drizzly August morning. Their stops included visiting two kings of the jungle, four tiger sisters, and the closest living relative of the giraffe. It was all part of a broader conversation about how the zoo is working to protect endangered and other at-risk species while educating the next generation of conservationists.

LINK

Potawatomi Zoo: potawatomizoo.org