Emens Auditorium was filled to capacity for wildlife expert Jack Hanna's free, non-ticketed show Wednesday night, and hundreds were turned away at the doors prior to Hanna's show.
Emens Events Manager Dina Byrnes estimated that about 500 people who came to Hanna's show were not admitted. Emens has a capacity of 3,410, and Emens staff stopped admitting people at about 20 minutes before 7 p.m., when the audience count reached 3,300, Byrnes said.
Because the show was paid for by the Marie Smith Gray Fund, Emens wasn't able to charge admission for the event, and the show was not ticketed because people usually take more tickets than they need for free events, Byrnes said.
All who were turned away at the doors were disappointed, but some of them understood why they weren't let in, Byrnes said.
"Any time you say 'free' in Muncie, you have to watch out," Muncie resident Ryan Kesler said. Kesler's three children were "bummed out" and didn't understand why they had to leave, he said.
After talking to audience members and signing autographs, Hanna took to the stage at 7 p.m. and said that people who were not admitted to the show or did not receive an autograph could e-mail him or contact the Columbus Zoo and receive an autographed photo of him.
"Should we get complaints from people in the community, we'll work with them to try to make sure they're happy," Darcy Wood, associate director at Emens, said. Wood said Emens would offer compensation to those unhappy with being turned away at the doors, such as a buy-one-get-one-free deal for future children's events.
On With the Show
At age 11, Jack Hanna took a job cleaning cages and caring for animals in a veterinarian's office in Knoxville, Tenn. At 16, Hanna decided he wanted to be a zoologist.
"I told myself when I was real young that I wanted to be a zookeeper someday, so I pursued that dream, and that's what I did," Hanna said.
Forty-three years after deciding to follow his passion for wildlife, Jack Hanna took the stage at Emens.
Those among the crowd in Emens saw animals from five continents and watched videos documenting Hanna's travels around the world. In his 33 years as a zoologist, Hanna has appeared as a guest on numerous shows including "Good Morning America," "Larry King Live" and "Hannity and Colmes."
Though Hanna received an abundance of attention from audience members before and after the show, he said he doesn't make media appearances to gain publicity for himself but to promote wildlife.
"Not all animal publicity are out there for promoting wildlife," Jo Christopher, Hanna promotion staff member, said. "Anything he did to be a celebrity was for the purpose of promoting animals, and that's why everybody loves him."
During the show, Hanna spoke about his recent trip to Rwanda, where he studied mountain gorillas, and he ended the show with a blooper reel of highlights from his encounters with animals, which included Hanna being knocked over by a baby elephant and kicked in the crotch by an ostrich.
Hanna shared several anecdotes from his experiences on the "Late Show with David Letterman" with the audience. Letterman, a 1969 Ball State University graduate, has had Hanna as a regular guest on the show since 1985, when Hanna was Executive Director of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Columbus, Ohio.
"If you watch David Letterman, you know I know what I'm doing," Hanna jokingly said before he put a large Madagascar hissing cockroach on the shoulder of an audience member.
Though there were funny moments, Hanna packed his show with facts about wildlife.
"I never heard of a spotted leopard, and I found out that bearcat is part of the mongoose family," Brant Runkel, a sixth-grader at Wilson Middle School in Muncie, said.
Brant's father, Mike, said he too found the show both entertaining and informative.
"I enjoyed Jack's sense of humor, and I saw some animals I'd never seen before," Mike said. He said he'd been to many zoos, but had never seen anything like this.
IF YOU MISSED THE SHOW:Emens capacity (3410) was met at about 6:40 p.m., Emens Event Director Dina Byrnes said.
Byrnes estimated about 500 people were turned away at the doors What to do
Hanna said people who missed the show can e-mail him at info@jackhanna.com or contact the Columbus Zoo for a free autographed photo
Emens Associate Director Darcy Wood said Emens will work to offer compensation to those who complain, such as buy-one-get-one-free tickets for the next family event
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