A Cinereous Vulture named Clarence didn't like most people. For sixteen-year-old Marco Wendt, working his first summer job at what's now the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, earning that bird's trust anyway became the first lesson in a career built on one idea: you don't get to skip the part where you earn it. Marco is now a spokesperson for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, where he's spent nearly thirty years working with the animals people find hardest to love — cassowaries, vultures, flamingos, cranes, raptors. Not because they're dangerous, though some are, but because nobody projects easy affection onto a cassowary the way they do an elephant or a panda. Closing that gap, animal by animal and person by person, has become his life's work. That instinct didn't start with animals. Marco grew up first-generation Mexican American in San Diego, one of the only Mexican kids in his classroom, punished for speaking Spanish instead of supported through it. He learned early to hide who he was. A cartoon called Captain Planet — where the Latino character's "lame" power was heart — became the thing that eventually pulled him back out, and it's shaped nearly every program he's built since. In this episode: The first bond that felt like more than an animal, and what a rescued vulture named Clarence taught him about earning trustGrowing up as one of the only Mexican kids in the classroom, and getting punished for speaking SpanishCaptain Planet, representation, and the "lamest power" that turned out to be his life's workThe Plan to See program: giving lower-income San Diego families a real sense of belonging in zoos and aquariumsWhat quality allyship looks like when it isn't performed for credit — "sometimes you just have to listen"Mentoring the next generation, and why he's already thinking about who takes his placeWhy the pandemic, for all its grief, reminded people what connection actually feels likeTailoring hope differently for a room of executives versus a room of eight-year-olds — and why every talk still has to end somewhere hopefulABOUT MARCO WENDTSpokesperson, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Nearly 30 years in wildlife conservation and education, working with cassowaries, vultures, flamingos, cranes, and raptors. Builder of bilingual programming and access initiatives centered on representation and belonging. 🦅 sdzwa.org ABOUT YOUR HOSTScott Shepherd is the founder of Wildward Institute, based in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. As a dad, practitioner, educator, and outdoor veteran, Scott helps schools, camps, and nature-based programs make meaningful experiences academically impactful for learners of all ages. Scott's work aims to design programatic leaders who communities stand behind and attract funders to support. 🌿 wildwardinstitute.net New episodes every week. Subscribe wherever you listen.
