Josh Sisk, the executive director of Potawatomi Zoo, grew up on a farm outside Holden, Missouri, with the usual farm animals around — cattle, sheep, goats.
But when he was 8 years old, he spent all his money on some exotic chickens. Then at age 16, he started raising a black bear, a mountain lion and several monkeys. (We won’t mention the snakes.)
Sometimes, he would put his mountain lion, named Rajah, in bed with him. “It was 120 pounds at the time and my mom would yell, ‘Is that darn cat in there with you?’” Josh recalls. “When it would raise its head, she would slam the door. She wasn’t a fan.”
So who would have guessed that Josh would someday be running a zoo? Definitely his mom.
Here are nine things to know about Josh:
1
Instead of a lemonade stand, 6-year-old Josh had a pet store at the end of his parents’ driveway. “I would try to sell box turtles and frogs,” he says.
“My grandfather would eventually come along and buy them all.”
Then he would dump them in a nearby creek without Josh knowing.
2
While in community college in Missouri, Josh caught the acting bug, dropped out of school and moved to Hollywood.
While also volunteering at the Los Angeles Zoo, he had small roles in daytime soaps like “The Young and the Restless,” “The Bold and Beautiful” and “Days of Our Lives.” In “The Bold and the Beautiful, he played a waiter at a cafe. “Can I get you coffee?”
In the made-for-TV movie, “These Old Broads” he was passed from Debbie Reynolds to Joan Collins on the dance floor. Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley MacLaine were also in the movie.
“But I got tired of the rat race and being told I needed to be a little taller for this role or my voice a little lower for that,” Josh admits. “I realized that my real love had always been animals.”
3
He earned a degree in behavioral anthropology at Cal State-Northridge and later added a Masters in zoology from Miami of Ohio, which took him on student trips to places like Namibia, Kenya and Borneo.
For a part-time job, he drove out to Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion near Bel Air and helped take care of Hefner’s many exotic animals. “He had monkeys and flamingoes and aviaries for all kinds of birds.” Josh says. “I also took care of the girls’ (Playmates’) pets.”
Hefner loved his animals and would occasionally talk to Josh about them. “And yeah, I think he was always in a robe when I saw him.”
4
He spent 12 years at the Los Angeles Zoo, serving as one of the youngest supervisors in the zoo’s history. He later took a job with the Bronx Zoo in New York City as the assistant curator of special animal exhibits.
In 2015, he got a call from a friend about a little zoo in South Bend, Indiana that needed a zoo curator and a lot of help.
“I really never heard of South Bend before,” he admits. “Notre Dame sort of rang a bell, but I wasn’t a sports fan growing up. All my attention had been on animals.”
Josh took the job and in 18 months, the zoo added 135 animals and 25 new species.
Then the Los Angeles Zoo wanted him back for their curator of mammals. He couldn’t turn the offer down.
But about a year later, he returned to South Bend and quickly moved up to executive director in 2019. “I’m a Midwest boy at heart, and it took me leaving to realize how great I had it in South Bend — and I didn’t want to miss what was happening there.”
5
The zoo has grown by leaps and bounds under Josh’s leadership. It’s gone from 18 full-time employees, to 54 …. from 180,000 yearly visitors to 410,000 …. from a budget of $3.6 million to $9.5 million.
He also has an HR manager, a grounds and horticulture person, a retail manager and a director of guest experience — responsibilities that he once had to handle. He can now take a vacation once in a while.
And fund-raising? How about $25 million by Josh and his staff since he has been at Potawatomi. “The community has bought into the zoo and no longer has to think about going to Chicago or Fort Wayne to have a great experience,” he says.
“I couldn’t be prouder of how the zoo is growing into a modern zoological facility focused on conservation, education and exemplary animal welfare.”
6
Josh still continues to be as hands-on as possible. He just recently had to perform CPR on a young animal … helps with vaccinations …. and covers about 15,000 steps a day around the zoo.
And when he needs a mental time-out from his responsibilities, you might find him weed whacking around the fences or hosing off the sidewalks. “Those are some mindless tasks that I can feel good about accomplishing,” he says.
“When other zoo workers see me doing those jobs, they’re thinking, “I wonder what Josh is upset about?’”
7
Josh admits that safety has to be of utmost importance for the animals, the workers and the visitors.
He has had his own scare. When the L.A. Zoo helped a primate sanctuary by temporarily housing about 50 chimpanzees, a couple of them somehow escaped.
“So I threw some grapes into the front seat of a truck and slammed the door when one of them got in to eat them,” Josh says. “Then the chimp was actually rolling down the window while I tried to hold it up from the outside. He finally got it down and he started chasing me before I went one way and he went the other.
“Later, a trainer took him by the hand and led him off with me wondering what he might have done if he caught me.”
8
Josh’s favorite animals? “Probably the giraffes,” he says. “It was such a big thing when we were able to get them.”
When a zoo has giraffes — and Potawatomi now has six — people take notice and kids often go crazy over these lovable, long-necked creatures.
“I think people saw us as just another zoo until we got them,” Josh adds. “I still remember designing their exhibit with stick figures serving as the giraffes. We’ve come a long way.”
9
The best sound at the zoo? “It has to be the howler monkey who lives up to his name when he starts howling,” Josh says. “Just hearing him in the morning makes me so happy.”
But then, Potawatomi Zoo is almost always a happy place for Josh.
Bill Moor, who started at the Tribune in 1973, served as sports editor and as a human-interest columnist during his tenure. Contact him at bry14zzo@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: From childhood to now, Potawatomi’s Sisk focused on animals ∣ The 9
Reporting by Bill Moor, Special to The Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Bill Moor, Special to The Tribune | USA TODAY Network
