Jack Hanna and animal friends visit for UMSU Celebration Week
Morgan Modjeski, Staff
Jack Hanna, an animal specialist, gave a presentation that included two videos and a blooper tape to the more than 700 students who filled the university’s multi-purpose room on Thursday, Jan 24.
Hanna came to speak to University of Manitoba students not only about strange and exotic creatures but also global warming and other environmental issues as part of the UMSU’s annual Celebration Week, held from Jan. 17-21.
He brought a number of animals from the Assiniboine Zoo to display to students. These animals ranged from a reindeer to the Giant African millipede to a llama. Since llamas are unable to walk on hardwood floor, it could only be brought a few metres into the theatre.
This was not Hanna’s first time in Canada, nor was it his first time in Manitoba. Hanna said that he had previously done work in the Carberry Desert observing a species of snake and in Churchill when he was working with polar bears.
The former director of the Columbus Zoo currently has his own TV show called Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures. He is well-known for his work in the fields of conservation and environmentalism and for his work in Rwanda where he has done an immense amount of work with the near-extinct mountain gorilla.
Hanna stumbled midway through his presentation when he could not remember the formal title for the prime minister.
He went on to say that Canada is doing a better job environmentally of preserving the planet than the neighbouring United States.
“Canada is 15-20 years ahead of America when it comes to conservation,” he said.
This year’s Celebration Week was themed Rethink-React-Relive, and students had the opportunity to learn about environmental issues, sample food and wine, and attend three keynote speakers: Hanna, Ice-T, and Joel Cohen, The Simpsons writer.
The Bannatyne campus Celebration Week will continue until Feb. 1, with pancake breakfasts and a wine festival.
