Brooke Shields's Forgotten Role

This past week, the San Diego Zoo unveiled its new children's zoo, Wildlife Explorers Basecamp.  Replacing the old children's zoo, it allows kids to play in a manner that emulates nearby coatis, squirrel monkeys, and other species, building empathy and encouraging hands-on learning.   This past Thursday, the Zoo held a VIP opening for the exhibit.  Among those in attendance was a San Diego Zoo staff alum... though perhaps not someone that many members of the public would have expected to see in that role.

Photo Credit: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

Years after she was already a star, Brooke Shields had at least one more usual high school experience - an internship.  Hers happened to be at the San Diego Zoo, where she worked with various species.  No, it doesn't look like she ever considered dropping her active career for the lucrative world of zookeeping, nor do I think anyone expected her to.  Nor did JFK Jr apparently have zookeeping in mind as a backup career when he took on a similar internship at the Bronx Zoo (detailed in You Belong In A Zoo!).  A lot of zookeeping interns don't enter the field.  Nor, to be honest, are any but a tiny percentage of the kids who will be playing their way through Wildlife Explorers Basecamp.  And that's ok.  That's not necessarily the point.

The point is to get folks involved in wildlife conservation at whatever level we can meet them at and help foster connections with animals.  Maybe Brooke Shields won't be mucking stalls in a zoo or doing field work in the wild - but she does have a major pulpit as a Hollywood star from which she can reach audiences, as well as the financial power to make contributions to causes that are important to her.  Zoos, aquariums, and other wildlife organizations can use all of the friends they can get, in any capacity, from big-time celebrities to the kids who want to play at being coatis, and everyone in between.