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With great sadness I report the death of Ron Goellner,
Director of Animal Collections at the Saint Louis Zoo.

Ron passed away early in the morning of 26 February 2006, in
the comfort of his home and with his loving wife Karen at his
side. The entire Saint Louis Zoo community is profoundly sad-
dened by the loss of a man who touched the lives of so many,
yet we know that Ron would be the first to tell us to “keep
smilin’.” You cannot conjure memories of Ron and not follow
his advice, because he sowed smiles wherever he went.

Born 4 November 1945, Ron’s career at the Saint Louis Zoo
spanned 35 years. He started in the Reptile House in 1970 as a
keeper and, within a few years, was promoted to Curator of
Reptiles, a position he held until 1995. For the past ten years,
Ron served as the Director of Animal Collections for the zoo.
Although Ron was intensely interested in all reptiles and amphib-
ians, his true passions were Tuataras and Hellbenders. In 1980,
Ron traveled to Stephen’s Island in New Zealand to collect envi-
ronmental data that could be utilized in the construction of a
new off-exhibit enclosure for the Zoo’s Tuatara group, which has
been in the collection since 1973. In recent years, Ron founded
the Center for Hellbender Conservation, which included the
construction of a dedicated off-exhibit facility for captive propa-
gation efforts. In addition, he established valuable links with the
Missouri Department of Conservation and researchers at univer-
sities in order to implement cooperative in situ initiatives for the
Hellbender in Missouri.

Ron was an avid gardener and had built several ponds
around his house to attract local amphibians. He enjoyed a wide
array of outdoor activities and particularly loved camping in the
Big Bend region of Texas and the mountains of southeastern
Arizona.

Ron was my mentor and colleague, but most of all he was a
dear friend whom I will miss very much.

Jeff Ettling
Curator of Herpetology

Saint Louis Zoo

O B I T U A R Y

Ronald Goellner (1945–2006)

Ron Goellner, here holding a Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganien-
sis), founded the Center for Hellbender Conservation. Photograph
courtesy of the St. Louis Zoo.

170 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2006 NEWSBRIEFS

“This was a red alert,” Mr. Burton
said. The Department of Agriculture was
contacted and officers took another dog
trap to the park to go with the one already
on the premises. On Monday night the
traps were set and Mr. Burton waited
until the iguanas went into their retreats.
Slugger liked to spend the night under a
plywood ramp leading to public toilets
near the iguana facility and Mr. Burton
saw him go there around sundown.

It rained Tuesday night and the bait
probably washed out of the dog traps, he
said. On Tuesday morning, Chris Carr
came early to check the traps. Instead, he
saw digging marks by the ramp. He
checked more closely and saw two dogs
under the toilet building with an iguana.
Mr. Carr was able to retrieve the iguana.
It was Slugger, and he was dead.

Mr. Burton said Slugger would not
have been afraid of the dogs, probably

never having seen one before. “He was
the dominant male in the area. He would
have stayed and fought,” he said.
Although he was the largest iguana in the
park at over 17 pounds, he was no match
for the dogs. “If we succeed in catching
the dogs, we’ll have to put them down,”
Mr. Burton said. It was not clear whether
they belonged to anyone. They did not
have collars and did not act as if they had
any training, he indicated.

But along with the dogs, irresponsi-
ble pet owners are causing another mon-
strous problem for the wildlife in the
park. “Well-meaning people are bringing
animals to the park and abandoning
them, thinking park staff will be kind to
animals. We have found kittens, full-
grown cats, puppies, and Green Iguanas
(Iguana iguana), and we have absolutely
no option but to trap them and remove
them. “They have no place here and

they’re damaging the native wildlife we’re
trying so hard to protect,” Mr. Burton
said.

Especially worrisome are the Green
Iguanas. People think they’re cute when
they’re little. But then they grow into big
lizards and the owner doesn’t want them
any more. The Green Iguanas – with def-
inite black stripes on the tail – are not
native to Cayman, he emphasized. They
don’t belong here and they are a threat to
the vulnerable Blues.

If anything good can come out of
this experience, maybe it could be peo-
ple’s increased awareness of what happens
when they allow their pets to roam or
when they drop off unwanted animals.
“Please don’t bring animals to the park.
It’s not a home for them,” he urged.

Carol Winker
Cayman Webnet, 7 June 2006

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