://Innerview
Ron Magill is the Miami Metrozoo Communications Director and Goodwill Ambassador. His journey involves the task of connecting kids and people to nature and animals. In this Distrikt ‘innerview’ after which we were all moved by his sensibility, we truly perceived a glimpse of a real illuminati, one who perhaps could change the world to make it a better place, using only his heart. His child-like energetic disposition to communicate is contagious and uplifting. He has been interviewed by many important sources and has even met Michael Jackson, but he keeps his ego very low, and that’s why we are fond of Ron. You will too after reading his soul.
Where were you born?
I was born in New York, my father was a Cuban immigrant; my mother was born in NY. I was raised in a 5-acre ranch that my parents bought in the 1970 's. My father always had a dream of growing avocadoes and mangoes, so I grew among horses, mangoes and avocadoes.
What part of your body doesn’t feel too good?
I feel great about everything. I’ve never had an alcoholic drink or a cup of coffee in my life. I have been injured a lot, bitten by several animals. I have stitches all over my body. On that note, on the positive side, I was bitten very badly by a crocodile and that’s how I met my wife. She was part of my physical therapy team after surgery. I was in the hospital feeling horrible and then she walks in and it was 18 years ago. Even when some bad things have happened to me, the pay off is wonderful.
What do you do?
I started 20 years ago as a zookeeper, but I always talked about what I did.I love animals. My thing has always been the wildlife, so I love talking about it. Now I’m the Goodwill Ambassador of the zoo. I go out and do a lot of public presentations, to civic and educational groups; I do TV shows, but all with the purpose of getting people excited about the animals. One day I am in National Geographic doing a serious documentary, then, the next day I can be in Sabado Gigante making goofy faces.
What are you doing tomorrow?
I’m going to be with my family. I have found that family is the most important thing. I cherish that open affection that Latino people have. I used to hug and kiss my father everyday. I have a hard time understanding people who shake the hand of their parents. I can’t imagine shaking my father’s hand.
Tell us about an anecdote that changed your life.
I grew up watching one TV program; it was the Crocodile Hunter of my time: Jim Fowler. I watched him and said, “That’s what I want to do with my life.” Other than my father, he was my hero. Three or four years after I started working here and met him. We became great friends. He also presented an award to me for my work in conservation. I never imagined to be presented with such a prestigious award, in the city where I was born, by my mentor and hero.
What were you doing a day like today when you were 12?
I’d be outside turning around any rock I could find, looking for bugs, taking them home and looking at them through magnifying glasses.
In springtime, I used to find cocoons, put them in a jar, come home from school and look to see if it was yet a butterfly. My biggest thrill was to see if the cocoon was opening up. It was magical to see the caterpillar become a beautiful butterfly. I did all kinds of weird things. For example, I started putting animal bones together. (Grabs a huge frog) This frog it’s a rare African Goliath frog, I put it together.
Little kids build models, I built models out of skeletons. I learned that way about bone structures.
I’ve been so lucky; I worry that something horrible is going to happen. I have an incredible wife; two gorgeous kids and I worry about that because I have had such a great life. I’m living everybody’s dream. I look at 20 or 30 thousand animals in the Serengeti, when I arrive in Africa, and I begin to cry. I’m 6’6, 225lbs. and I cry like a baby. I can’t believe that I’m out there. I get so emotional. I want to make sure that the kids can see those places. One of my favorite quotes is:
“We haven’t inherited this earth from our parents, we are borrowing it from our children.” So we need to protect it. Another one I really like is, “in the end, we protect what we love, we love what we understand, and we understand what we were taught.” It’s our obligation to teach kids. I visit the indigenous people in the rainforest and people look down at them. I got stung by a wasp really bad in the rainforest, an Indian came running, chewed on a bark and spit on my bee sting, in seconds, the pain was gone. It was. That is knowledge! If I could market and sell it in the drugstore, oh my God! There is so much we can learn from them. Whatever the illness, there is a cure in a plant in a forest somewhere. The most fascinating things don’t have a price tag. There are so many things we don’t know. That’s what makes my job so great.
If you could mix three people to achieve a great human being, whom would you suggest?
It sounds cliché, but I would say my mother and father for all their inspiration.
My dad had a third grade education. My mom had an incredible personality. Then I look at somebody like Jim Fowler, a man with adventure, who showed the world about nature. Also, Mother Theresa, another cliché. I’m not a very religious person, I’m spiritual, but I believe that when I look at the rainforest up from the top of a tree, that I’m closer to God there than in any church. However, Mother Theresa demonstrated what she felt, she did things that were unbelievable. It was altruism at its best. She was an inspiration. The conditions in which she lived and still gave to the needy, is remarkable.
Which was your most important professional moment?
When I climbed a tree in the rainforest to capture a Harpy Eagle. This is one of my favorite animals; it was in Panama in my 30’s. We found a nest; I climbed to the nest about 120 feet up. I’ve been with lions in the Serengeti, and swimming in the Galapagos, but this was one of the greatest moments in my life (shows an amazing picture of that very moment). This is one of the rarest and most powerful pray-birds in the world.
