The recognizable face of ZooMontana is leaving.
January 30 the zoo announced its director Jeff Ewelt is leaving after 14 years for a position at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, an offer he could not pass up.
“I will be the chief zoological office,” Ewelt told YPR. ” So I will be in charge of the entire animal department. Thirty-nine-thousand animals is what they have so it’s a pretty big place. The opportunity, ya know, for an animal guy that wants to really get back into conservation—and we do some great work here at ZooMontana but this is on a bigger scale. It made sense. It was something that came to me. It wasn’t something I was looking for.”
Ewelt says he’s comfortable with the place ZooMontana is in as he prepares his departure. He says three major, personal goals were accomplished: restoring the zoo’s accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, getting a new paved parking lot and getting something done with their waterfowl area.
He says he’ll miss Montana-- the mountains, the outdoor recreation and the people of Billings who rallied around the zoo when it had its problems 14 years ago.
“People showed up. They believed in me,” Ewelt said proudly. “And that was a really powerful thing for me. I was just a young guy at the time, not understanding, really, what I was getting into and it worked. And that could not have happened if it wasn’t for the people of Billings, Montana.”
He says he has put his heart and soul into ZooMontana and wants nothing but the best for it.
And the people who work and volunteer at the Zoo want the best for himike the gift shop manager Jenny Dowell.
“I’m absolutely happy for him but devastated on our part,” said Jenny Dowell, the gift shop manager.
Ewelt says there will be a formal announcement the first week of February on who is lined up to fill in as interim director, and the zoo’s board of directors is working on what the next director’s search will look like.
Ewelt will begin his new position at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium on April 14th.