Wally English, longtime Seattle zookeeper, dies at age 67

Few people have a hard day at work that includes going toe-to-toe with a bison. For Wally English, a legendary zookeeper at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, such run-ins were part of the job.

Early in his 41-year career, Mr. English was cleaning the zoo's bison yard when he met Doc, its biggest bull. He dodged behind a wheelbarrow, but Doc hooked it aside with a horn; before he knew it, Mr. English had scaled an 8-foot wall.

Mr. English, revered for his institutional knowledge and conservation efforts at Woodland Park, died Feb. 16 of cancer. He was 67.

"He was at his best when he was out in the field," said daughter Elizabeth English, of New York City. Like a lot of zookeepers, she said, her father was drawn to work with animals — and particularly raptors — out of shyness.

Her childhood memories include tracking wild birds with her father. Once, when she was about 6, they were attacked by swans at Green Lake. "I think they were protecting their nest," she said.

Mr. English's passion for zoos stretched back to his own childhood. He kept a lifelong scrapbook of zoo-related news clippings, and among the photos he treasured most was one of him with his parents at the zoo, taken when he was about 7.

A humble, soft-spoken man, he started zookeeper work in 1967, a time when it was seen as menial. His diploma from Tukwila's Foster High was in stark contrast to the grad students who'd later populate a profession that had become highly desirable.

Through four decades, he saw sweeping philosophical changes in zoos, which went from circuslike menageries to polished, naturalistic settings mindful of animal welfare. He had a hand in designing Woodland Park's savanna, an open area shared by several species — a dramatic difference from the sterile cages that once separated animals by species.

In his 20s, he was drawn to falconry, then to the plight of bald eagles. In the early 1970s, he helped rehabilitate and release 80 eagles and other raptors.

In 1988, along with zookeeper Ernie Rose, he established Woodland Park's raptor center before turning his attention to turtle recovery, helping to raise the state's population of Western pond turtles from 150 to more than 1,000.

"He was much appreciated by the department,"said Harriet Allen, manager of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife's endangered-species program. "He's meant a lot to this region."

Mr. English wasn't the type to tout his résumé. "You had to get to know him and ask questions before he told you much about his work," said his companion, Diann Peterson, a fellow zookeeper. "He didn't give himself the credit he deserved."

Not every animal encounter was fun times: Felix, the dominant breeding chimp on what was then Monkey Island, once bit Mr. English on the thigh while the zookeeper was cleaning the enclosure.

Mr. English startled the chimp with a kick before leaping into the moat and swimming for the other side, thinking the monkey didn't like water.

"I got out about 10 feet and looked around," he would say years later, "and here comes Felix swimming after me." The chimp was repelled with help from another zookeeper.

In addition to Peterson and daughter Elizabeth, Mr. English is survived by daughter Cherie Fredrickson, of Seattle; son Darin, of Fairbanks, Alaska; two brothers; a sister; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A potluck celebration of Mr. English's life will be held Mar. 28, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Woodland Park Zoo's Zoomazium in Seattle.

Donations in his memory can be made to the North American Falconers Association through the group's endowment link at www.n-a-f-a.com/donations.htm.

Marc Ramirez: 206-464-8102 or mramirez@seattletimes.com

Information in this story, published Mar. 3, was corrected Mar. 4. The potluck celebration for Mr. English will be on Mar. 28. The story previously stated the celebration would be Sunday.