Robert Callahan, executive director of Dreher Park Zoo, Palm Beach County’s only public zoo, resigned on Tuesday in a sudden move that surprised staff and the zoo’s board of directors.
Callahan, 55, who came to the zoo in 1992, told his staff on Tuesday morning that contract negotiations with the zoo’s executive board had broken down. He said he was resigning over principles.
“He said, ‘It’s not about money,'” zoo spokesman Craig Pugh said. “He said it was operating principles and that’s as far as he went.”
Callahan, who lives in Delray Beach, could not be reached for comment.
His decision to resign a day after meeting with the board surprised board members who had been negotiating with him. President Jay Hyman, a retired veterinarian, said that he had scheduled a meeting for next week to continue the negotiations.
“The board’s preference was not to see him leave,” Hyman said. “Like every job, he had strengths and his weaknesses. He had strength in his community skills, working with the political climate, the power structure of Palm Beach County. He brought some very good innovations to the zoo. Overall, I’d say he did a very good job and we’re sorry to see him go.”
Callahan gave up his job as education curator at the Houston Zoological Gardens to come to Dreher Park.
Under his leadership, the 23-acre zoo increased its annual attendance to 250,000 and made numerous improvements, including paved walkways, a nature trail and new exhibit space for the zoo’s Florida panther.
“In the last four years we have grown, and come to the realization that we have a special thing here in Palm Beach County,” Hyman said.
At Callahan’s urging, the zoo is about to embark on a decade-long capital campaign to completely redo the grounds. The project is expected to cost $20 million or more.
Hyman has already put in a call to the American Zoological Association to begin a search for a new executive director. While Callahan’s resignation comes at a crucial time in the zoo’s expansion, it would have been worse if the campaign was already under way.
“These things happen, and organizations go forward with it,” Hyman said. “I don’t think it will really affect the zoo. We have a good management team in place.”
Callahan’s tenure has not been without dispute. First, thieves stole rare monkeys from the zoo and accidently killed one, prompting a campaign to build a more secure fence. Then a pack of dogs broke into the zoo, scaring a wallaby, which suffered a fatal heart attack. Weeks later, the dogs killed four deer.
Zoo neighbors fiercely fought a proposal by Callahan to expand the zoo by taking over another 14 acres of the 100-acre Dreher Park. At the neighborhood’s urging, the West Palm Beach City Council rejected the zoo’s proposal.
And the zoo in June was criticized by the World Society for the Protection of Animals in a report it issued on Florida zoos. While it praised the education and animal care, it was critical of the zoo’s maintenance.
Paul Dreher founded the zoo in 1969 with a small collection of farm animals. It now has more than 500 animals.
