Thane Maynard is an American zookeeper and author who currently serves as the Director of the

Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is the sixth oldest zoo in the United States, founded in 1873 and officially opening in 1875. It is located in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It originally began with in the middle of the c ...

. He is also an author and the host of ''The 90-Second Naturalist'', a 1½-minute radio program played on Cincinnati Public Radio stations WGUC and WVXU. Often appearing on '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', Maynard has also been featured on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'', '' The Today Show'', and '' CBS This Morning''. He is actively involved in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and is a member of Leadership Cincinnati Class XVII, The Hillside Trust, and The Ohio Chapter of TNC. When Harambe, a male 17-year-old Silverback gorilla, was shot dead after a 3-year-old boy managed to slip into the gorilla enclosure at the

Cincinnati Zoo The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is the sixth oldest zoo in the United States, founded in 1873 and officially opening in 1875. It is located in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It originally began with in the middle of the c ...

, Maynard justified the killing of the gorilla because he felt the child's life was in serious danger. Animal rights groups and others have questioned both the adequacy of the enclosure and the necessity for killing the gorilla. Maynard is co-author with Jane Goodall and Gail Hudson of ''Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink.''

References

External links

* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American zoologists {{US-zoologist-stub