Dawn Todd feels at home at the Toronto Zoo.
She sports a gorilla-silhouetted hat and a white polo shirt, peers into animal habitats and waves to staff members young and old.
But she’s not a zookeeper, a parent with toddling, animal-curious children or even a researcher digging into an obscure species for a hefty dissertation.
She’s a volunteer who, in September, will be celebrating 50 years of volunteering at the zoo. Her enthusiasm hasn’t waned, nor has her conviction in the value and importance of animals.
“The Earth is really going downhill, so far as animals are concerned, and we need to understand that they’re important to the world and treat them better,” Todd, 76, tells the Star, seated on a shady bench outside the zoo’s African Rainforest Pavilion, one of her favourite spots on the 710-acre campus.
Todd is a staple at an institution that has shaped school field trips and summer afternoons for countless kids from the GTA and beyond.
She initially started volunteering as a young mother of two boys in the fall of 1975. At that time, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the prime minister, the Blue Jays had not yet played their first game and Captain & Tennille and the Bee Gees were at the top of the Canadian charts.
As she tells it, she wanted to get out of the house and interact with other adults at a time in her life when she was spending most of her time with youngsters.
After a multi-decade career in children’s publishing, she’s continued volunteering at the zoo, bringing her trademark enthusiasm and charm to generations of zoogoers.
She’s accumulated knowledge as the years have gone by, even if she wasn’t an expert upon first joining the team.
“I think I’ve picked up most of (my knowledge about animals) in the 50 years I’ve been volunteering here,” she says cheerfully. “I know a lot more animals now than I did when I started.”
She runs informational modules near habitats, teaches kids about the diets and habits of her favourite animals and helps guests navigate the splaying and interlocking trails that make up the zoo.
Where the gorillas dwell, she shows off models comparing the size, scope and physiology of gorilla and human skulls, much to the inquisitive amazement of many a youthful zoogoer.
On an interpersonal level, Todd attributes her natural friendliness to growing up in Nova Scotia, where she says conversational ease is an automatic virtue. It’s easy to talk to strangers, because she’s being doing it all her life.
“We talk to everybody,” she remarks. “So I’m quite used to talking to whoever comes up.”
As she patrols the inside of the pavilion — the home of her favourite animal, gorillas — she cracks jokes with parents and kids alike, leaning on her experience as a mother.
She spots a 15-year-old gorilla lying on his back with his feet up on one of the walls of his habitat, then turns to the family next to her.
“He’s a teenage boy, that’s what they do.” she says.
Later, she spots an exasperated mother pushing a wagon with two bickering young boys.
“Sons are fun, aren’t they?” she asks.
Todd is the longest-tenured volunteer in a 385-person volunteer corps that also includes a 45-year veteran of the zoo and an actual veteran of the Second World War who assists with the Remembrance Day ceremony every year.
She works three-hour shifts almost every Sunday, and, while she prefers to spend her time near the gorillas, she’s also fond of the Australasian portion of the zoo, which houses kangaroos, pythons and an array of exotic aquatic creatures, among others.
“Her dedication is unbelievable, it’s unparalleled,” says Denise Hill-Fox, the zoo’s volunteering and engagement coordinator. “We could not do all the work that we do without our volunteer team.”
Last year, the zoo’s volunteers worked a combined over 44,000 hours, per Hill-Fox, making over 1.3 million “contacts” with guests.
“We have such a great reach because of our volunteers,” Hill-Fox said.
With the 50-year mark in her sights, Todd says she’ll keep volunteering at the zoo as long as her memory keeps up. She loves the routine and wouldn’t want to miss out on the chance to spend time with her favourite animals, after all.
“It depends on my memory,” Todd said. “If it’s still working alright, I’ll stay.”
