The long goodbye

Nearly four decades ago Don Farst stepped off a plane and knew he had found his destiny.

The warm air and palm trees were a welcome change from his home in Ohio, and the chance to help make Brownsville’s zoo a success was a challenge he couldn’t pass up.

Farst, 66, officially stepped down as Gladys Porter Zoo director in January of this year, but he hasn’t left the zoo yet. Every day he’s on site, making sure animals are healthy and donations are accounted for.

Even as his official responsibilities decrease at the zoo, Farst remembers his first day in Brownsville, July 1, 1970.

“The year leading up to the opening was very, very hectic,” Farst said. “We went from zero to 1,000 animals.”

The zoo opened to the public Sept. 3, 1971.

Many men and women working behind the scenes helped get the project off the ground, and Farst, as chief veterinarian, was excited by the state-of-the-art facility.

“This was one of the first zoos built without barred, caged exhibits,” he said. “In ‘74 the first project that we added was the free-flight aviary. People didn’t look at animals through cages, they went in with them.”

Not long after Farst arrived, he was joined by others eager to help the zoo get off the ground, including some still working at the zoo, like Patrick Burchfield, Alberto Gomez, Ruben Garcia and Jerry Stones.

“We’ve known one another for all these many years,” said Burchfield, who took over as zoo director in January. “I remember Dr. Farst from his first day on the job at the Columbus Zoo.”

Both men had the opportunity to work with Colo, the first gorilla born in captivity. This gave them experience they would put to good use in Brownsville, even if it didn’t seem like it in 1970.

“There were no animals when I got here,” Farst recalled.

He was intrigued by the challenge of helping a new zoo get on its feet.

“It was the challenge of putting together a major collection of animals and being in on it from the ground floor,” he explained. “Having it 75 degrees and sunshiny seemed pretty nice, too.”

The subtropical climate made the zoo ideal for animals that wouldn’t have done as well in northern states, meaning experienced keepers would find themselves working with new and exotic animals.

“We were working with animals I’d never seen before,” said Jerry Stones, facilities director at the zoo.

Working at the zoo gave Farst the chance to see the animals in their native habitats when, in 1972, he traveled to Africa to personally oversee the transport of new exhibits.

“It made me appreciate the fact that the animals were hard pressed in the wild,” Farst said, adding that farmers were the primary threat to wildlife. “It also gave me an appreciation for the poverty that these people felt. They weren’t doing this out of maliciousness.”

He saw why it was essential that Gladys Porter Zoo become a haven for endangered species. To this day, the Brownsville zoo remains one of the premier breeding sites for endangered species in captivity.

Memories — good and bad

Even with all that prestige, not everything went according to plan over the years.

“It seems like bad things happen after your day crew leaves,” Farst said.

One incident in the early 1970’s has become infamous around the zoo thanks to a photo that captured Farst several feet in the air, jumping for his life from an annoyed gaur.

The large hoofed animal had fallen into the moat surrounding the animal enclosures, and after Farst, Stones and another keeper hauled her out with ropes, a new complication occurred.

“As we were trying to get the ropes off she jumped up,” Farst said.

Despite its size, gaurs can be quick and powerful animals. Farst saw the keeper was in danger so he tried to get the gaur’s attention.

“I slapped her on the butt and hollered,” he said. “She turned at me and I had no where to go but in the water.”

The keeper got away while Farst jumped in. Stones remembers that day all too well.

“Thank God Dr. Farst was yelling ‘don’t jump in the water Jerry, you can’t swim!’ I jumped up a wall.”

Although hired as a veterinarian, Farst took over as zoo director on April 1, 1974. It meant he would get less time with the animals, but could put a greater effort into guiding the organization’s future.

“I always said it was a shame he became director because he was one of the best zoo veterinarians I’d ever worked with,” Stones said. “The zoo business lost a good veterinarian when he became director.”

Burchfield agreed.

“He’s very good at improvising in tense situations, like a compound fracture on an antelope,” he explained. “He could get it fixed up in a hurry. … We did a lot of hands-on stuff that they probably wouldn’t attempt at other places.”

Moving on

As director, Farst found new reasons to stay busy at the zoo.

“Probably the single biggest challenge came after (the zoo’s namesake) Gladys Porter died in 1980,” he said.

Gladys Porter’s family lived far from Brownsville and the zoo needed another reliable source of income to become self-sufficient. Farst helped start the first endowment drive in 1986, eventually raising $3 million, along with $3 million in matching funds from local charities, to help keep the zoo in business.

Another drive was held in 1996 that was equally successful, and the current drive, begun in 2006, has already raised $3.4 million. Their goal is $4.2 million to help expand and advance care for zoo animals.

Although his last day was officially January 1, and a going away party was held for him in May, Farst plans to keep working at the zoo at least through August. He plans to see the current endowment through, to make sure it reaches its goal.

His co-workers expect to see his presence continue at the zoo a lot longer than that. They know he loves the zoo, and the zoo has been better for having him, co-workers say.

“Dr. Farst has managed to keep our zoo internationally known and on the forefront of zoos nationwide,” Burchfield said. “I hope I can do half as good of a job. … I had a good teacher.”