Jack Hanna said he knew he wanted to be a zookeeper when he was 12 years old.
On Monday night, Hanna donated his time to raise money for the SFCC Teaching Zoo by discussing wildlife conservation and sharing his adventures with animals to a reception at the Best Western Gateway Grand.
Hanna has made regular appearances on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Good Morning America."
Hanna, who is the director emeritus at the Columbus Zoo, joked about how he was at the BCS National Championship Game in January and had to leave at halftime because his team was losing.
Hanna said that he could film anywhere in the world for this episode of his show, "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures," but he chose the SFCC Teaching Zoo.
"SFCC is one of two teaching zoos in the United States that offer hands-on experience as well as classroom work," Hanna said.
Buz Bireline, assistant director of the SFCC zoo, said that Hanna has been on the board of advisers at the zoo for years.
"He cares so much about our program and wants to help us out," Bireline said.
Hanna called SFCC and asked if he could film the episode. Hanna also filmed at the zoo in 2002.
Dara Kelly, a student zookeeper, said Hanna focused on the facility itself and on different training programs at the SFCC zoo.
Hanna said that he gets thousands of e-mails from people all over the United States asking him where they can go to college to be a zookeeper.
If they are in the Florida, Hanna said, he always recommends SFCC.
Most recently, Hanna has been involved in filming a new series, "Into the Wild."
He said this series is special to him because he gets to travel and film the show with his family.
Hanna said the first 20 episodes were filmed in Rwanda, Africa, where he and his family have built a house in the mountains.
Hanna also had SFCC zoo students bring out animals that he brought from the Columbus Zoo.
Among them were a penguin, a leopard, a fox and a cheetah.
Money raised from tickets, which were ,35 per person, will be going to the birth of SFCC zoo's new master plan.
The plan includes visitor-access improvement, a water feature designed for children with spurts of water shooting out from the ground, a conservation center for endangered wildlife and a multiuse education building.
