Our People: Keeping the zoo running

Damian Lechner, the new director of the Hillcrest Park Zoo in Clovis, has added a young camel, two anteaters and sugar glider to the zoo's population since arriving in Clovis in May.

Lechner said two kangaroos and two wallabies are expected in coming months. When combined with the sugar glider, a marsupial resembling a bat, Lechner said that will be the beginning of a special part of the zoo reserved for animals from Australia.

Lechner came to Clovis from Los Angeles, where he worked with the Los Angeles Zoo and said Clovis' much lighter traffic and slower pace are a welcome change from the crowded, hectic pace of Los Angeles.

The News pinned Lechner down for a question-and-answer session on Wednesday.

Here are our questions and his responses.

Q. Do you have a favorite animal at the zoo?

A. I enjoy all the animals for different reasons. The most charismatic is going to be Alexander Camelton, our camel. He loves people. He can be very vocal, he loves to come out and meet people.

Q. What is it about animals that attracts you?

A. I always had a fascination with the animal world and with nature. Our family made us go camping as kids. That's what got me into nature and hiking. I 've always been drawn to animals. It's funny because I was the only one in my family with that big of a draw. I'm the only one who was interested in wildlife, and the only one who wanted to travel.

Q. What draws you to wild animals instead of pets?

A. The only thing I can think of is that my mom bought me this encyclopedia of Australia when I was about xix, and I would tell her about the animals. Australia has many animals that are endemic only to Australia. They have unique adaptations. Sugar gliders have pouches. Kangaroos and koalas, you can only find there. I read that book so often I could tell you every chapter.

Q. What should the zoo do for visitors?

A. If you can't travel around the world, a zoo can give you a glimpse of animals you don't get to see. Zoos are more than just a place where you come to see animals. They should be more of an educational adventure. Zoos should be involved in conservation.

In our gift shop we try to use sustainable cloth bags. Everybody uses plastic bags. Animals ingest those and get sick. We're trying to get people to use the canvas bags when they go to the grocery store. We're trying to transition to metal water bottles we would sell in the gift shop and put out water fountains that are adapted to fill the metal bottles.

We recycle cans here, and we want to capture water bottles before they get to the landfills.

Q. Why do you think kids are attracted to zoo animals?

A. Kids learn a lot better from actual seeing. The zoo is a more immersive environment. You see animals interacting with their environment. We don't have camels in the U.S. but seeing them here can lead to helping them where they live. We want to plant more trees and shrubs to make it more of a forest environment for the kids. It's important for kids to get outside and enjoy nature.

Q. Do find occasionally that some animals are more appealing than some people?

A. Animals don't hide their feelings. You know when an animal is upset, or hungry – when an animal wants to interact with you or wants to be left alone. Animals are very easy to read. Some people have a very strong animal sense. I think I'm one of those people, and that makes animals easy to read. Sometimes people can be much more difficult to read. There's no second guessing with animals. With

With a prey animal, like a deer or rabbit, it can be very subtle. You have to watch for changes in behavior.

Q. How do you interact with guests?

A. I enjoy talking with the guests about the zoo.

Sometimes visitors will call us and report things like a peacock lying on its side. Sometimes they'll tell us the peacocks have gotten loose, but they're free ranging. We really do enjoy it when the public takes an interest.

Q. And sometimes people will leave animals at the zoo?

A. That's how we got the big duck that hangs out by the pelicans. People have left guinea pigs. We bring them out for the kids and teach trivia, like guinea pigs have 14 toes, four each on the front feet and three toes on the back. They will leave cats. One cat had kittens and now our keepers have pet cats.

Q. What makes you optimistic about the zoo's future?

A. We have new staff here. Everyone is on the same trajectory and wants to advance the zoo. It's a gem for the city to have a 28-acre zoo.

We pull in visitors from Amarillo and Lubbock in Texas and from Roswell. They drive an hour and a half to visit the zoo., and we don't charge a lot.

We're seeking approval now for an animal encounter, where people for a fee can go into a cage and feed the giraffes, the lemurs and our bat-eared foxes. People want to interact with the animals sometimes. It will be very well controlled so animals will get fed items that are on their diet.

Q. What is your least favorite part of animal care?

A. It's physically demanding and very dirty work. We do the craziest thing. We have get behind them to get fecal samples so we can submit them to a veterinarian. We have to give them enrichment and help them interact with their environment. You can have a super busy day and one where you don't do much of anything. No day is the same. Every day is a surprise.

To keep this job you need to be passionate about animals. They don't take vacations. You have to sacrifice time with family. I've been all over the U.S. It can be tough if you have the passion to work with animals and want to conserve them.

Q. What about family?

A. It's just me and my dog. He's a bull terrier named Cannon. I've moved from the east coast to the west coast and many places in between and I've been overseas. I'm at a point in career where I'm in the market to buy a house and put down some roots. I love the friendliness of the people in Clovis. It's got everything I need day to day, and if I need something else, Amarillo and Lubbock are an hour and a half away.

I came here from Los Angeles, where I worked at the Los Angeles Zoo and the California Science Center.

It was time to leave that life and lower the stress.

I also lived in a forest in Laos for 15 or 16 months and had to leave due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I think I missed the peace of a small village.

My mother is visiting from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She helped out with Boo in the Zoo. I have a brother who is a vice president of a tech firm in Fort Lauderdale. He's very computer savvy. He got the tech gene. I got the animal gene.