Former Zoo Atlanta Director Terry Maple, Ph. D. Releases Biography of Beloved Gorilla

Industry: Environment

In “Atlanta’s Iconic Ape: The Life of Willie B.” Dr. Terry Maple celebrates a gorilla that sparked a revolution in animal care

Atlanta, GA (PRUnderground) August 18th, 2021

Red Leaf Press is thrilled to announce the release of Dr. Terry L. Maple’s latest book “Atlanta’s Iconic Ape: The Life of Willie B.”

In 1984 Zoo Atlanta was failing. Maligned as one of America’s “10 Worst Zoos” for its deteriorating condition, the calls for its closure grew louder.

Deep inside that troubled zoo, a solitary male gorilla sat alone, enclosed in a concrete building with only a tire swing, a television, and an endless parade of gawkers peering at him through extra strength glass windows.

But all that was about to change. Under the leadership of Dr. Terry L. Maple, the new zoo director, that gorilla would embark on a journey from his dire, lonely conditions to a lush outdoor habitat and vibrant family group. Now, in a newly released book, Dr. Maple reveals the details of Willie’s – and the zoo’s – transformation.

Atlanta’s Iconic Ape: The Life of Willie B. tells the incredible true story of the gorilla whose journey from concrete jail to an outdoor life of freedom touched the hearts of an entire generation of Atlantans.

Over the course of the next twelve years, Willie B.’s success would become synonymous with Atlanta’s emergence as a cosmopolitan city-on-the-rise, as well as spark a revolution in animal care throughout the zoo industry.

Trends in zoo and aquarium exhibit design and animal care have shifted the past two decades with a focus on wellness as a cornerstone in caring for animals under human care. At the forefront of this concept, Dr. Maple has been a pioneer in the zoo community for more than 40 years. He discovered wellness as he sought to optimize animal welfare standards and practices in his dual career as an animal welfare scientist and a CEO of Atlanta Zoo and Palm Beach Zoo.

“Atlanta’s Iconic Ape: The Life of Willie B.” by Dr. Maple has been published through Palmetto Publishing and is now available on AmazonDr. Maple is available for interviews, talks, and speaking engagements.

About Dr. Terry L. Maple 

Dr. Terry L. Maple is best known for his visionary leadership in revitalizing Atlanta’s city zoo after the most publicized scandal in the history of American zoos. Dr. Maple’s eighteen years of reform leadership rebranded Zoo Atlanta as a non-profit corporation and restored its credibility, earning it awards for excellence in exhibit design and innovation. In 2003, he returned fulltime to an endowed chair at Georgia Tech, and in 2005 Dr. Maple became the President/CEO of the Palm Beach Zoo. Dr. Maple served on dozens of governmental and non-governmental committees including a four-year Presidential appointment to the board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and was recognized as the first recipient of AZA’s new award for Career Achievement in Animal Welfare.

He retired as CEO of the Palm Beach Zoo in 2011 and finished his thirteenth book, “Zoo Animal Welfare” (co-authored with Bonnie Perdue) published by Springer-Verlag in 2013. Among his active consulting engagements nationwide, Dr. Maple served from 2011 to 2014 as the San Francisco Zoo’s first Professor-in-Residence. In his current engagement as Professor-in Residence, Dr. Maple is a mentor to keepers, curators, and veterinarians at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.

About Red Leaf Press

Red Leaf Press is a family business, owned and operated in Fernandina Beach, Florida by Dr. Terry L. Maple. The business is a unique publishing partnership between the offices in Florida and Palmetto Publishing Group in Charleston, S.C.

The first book that utilized the brand was designed, edited, and printed by CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon. Celebrating the Career of Terry L. Maple was organized and edited by three of Dr. Maple’s former graduate students, M.P. Hoff, Evan Zucker, and M.B. Bloomsmith. This publication was distributed in 2014 as a festschrift volume to members of his laboratory, colleagues and friends.

Dr. Maple and his students and collaborators have published more than 250 papers, chapters, and books. The books he authored, co-authored, edited, and co-edited were published, marketed, and distributed by prestigious publishers such as Cambridge University Press, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Johns Hopkins University Press, Springer/Verlag, Smithsonian, and Van Nostrand Reinhold. He has also used smaller, local companies such as Atlanta’s Longstreet Press and London-based Jessica Kingsley.

About Red Leaf Press

Red Leaf Press is a family business, owned and operated in Fernandina Beach, Florida by Dr. Terry L. Maple. The business is a unique publishing partnership between the offices in Florida and Palmetto Publishing Group in Charleston, S.C.

The first book that utilized the brand was designed, edited, and printed by CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon. Celebrating the Career of Terry L. Maple was organized and edited by three of Dr. Maple’s former graduate students, M.P. Hoff, Evan Zucker, and M.B. Bloomsmith. This publication was distributed in 2014 as a festschrift volume to members of his laboratory, colleagues and friends.

Dr. Maple and his students and collaborators have published more than 250 papers, chapters, and books. The books he authored, co-authored, edited, and co-edited were published, marketed, and distributed by prestigious publishers such as Cambridge University Press, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Johns Hopkins University Press, Springer/Verlag, Smithsonian, and Van Nostrand Reinhold. He has also used smaller, local companies such as Atlanta’s Longstreet Press and London-based Jessica Kingsley.

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