The meerkat emerges from its tunnel, stands on the tips of its toes, front paws curled under its chin, and peers around. Suddenly it scampers to the top of a dusty gold rock and stops abruptly behind the plate glass window. A young boy jumps back, startled by the small rodentlike mammal and then turns to the man next to him: "If you put a snake in there, would it eat it?"
As it turns out, the man is Anthony J. Smith, director and head veterinarian of Happy Hollow Zoo in San Jose. Smith is delighted by the question -- proof of the success of his program to make the animal habitats more accessible to visitors.
For Smith, coming to Happy Hollow was like returning home. Raised in San Jose, he visited the zoo as a boy -- and still has the home movies to prove it. Smith planned to attend medical school but changed his mind when he was accepted at UC-Davis veterinary school. He graduated and worked for four years at the Santa Barbara Zoo in California and then three years at the El Paso Zoo in Texas.
Happy Hollow Zoo opened in 1966 and was run by a private company, Baby Zoo Inc., until 1985, when the city of San Jose took it over. Since arriving two years ago, Smith has expanded the education department with adventurous programs like a sleep-over that educates kids about the animals' night life. He also has laid the groundwork for a major zoo expansion over the next 10 years, planning to double its size from three to about eight acres.
By trading with other zoos, Smith obtained 20 new animals; Happy Hollow now has 50 species and more than 200 animals. And he's determined they will eventually all have new quarters. With more than half the enclosures already refurbished, Smith is particularly proud of the meerkats' spacious and authentic habitat, which previously housed a bear.
Smith oversees 14 full- and part-time employees, but any given day could find him analyzing budgets, administering vaccinations or picking up litter as he strolls. "I don't think he sleeps," jokes Barbara Coats, general manager of the zoo and park. "The appearance and health of the animals has improved, and the facility is the best it's ever looked." With its rising popularity, the zoo is drawing about 5,000 visitors on sunny weekends.
But, for Smith, the real reward is giving each visitor a unique experience. "There is nothing like seeing a kid face-to-face with a jaguar," he says. "They're never going to get that from watching TV or reading about it in a book."
