Topeka Zoo's Deputy Director does amazing things for animals, visitors

TOPEKA (KSNT) - KSNT 27 News celebrates the latest 'Everything Woman' honoree. She started volunteering at Topeka Zoo & Conservation Center as a teen, and has worked there for 3 1/2 decades performing animal care, while supervising employees, events and expansion projects.

Fawn Moser was born in Brattleboro, Vermont and spent most of her childhood in Massachusetts and Connecticut. She fondly remembers exploring nearby fields, snowmobiling and learning how to clam with her grandmother. At the age of 16, she left New England and moved to Topeka.

"I ended up starting at the zoo when I got to Kansas," Moser said. "And the zoo pretty much became my family."

After graduating from Topeka West High School, Fawn worked her way through various seasonal positions; first part-time, then full-time, and she's been at the zoo ever since.

"I actually started at a young age, an impressionable age, and it just was the perfect fit," Moser said, "outdoors, something different every day still is very different every day."

Fawn spent her first 11 years in the rainforest, then started working into managerial roles to help shape the zoo into the beloved attraction it is today. She also had several positive influences to admire and learn from.

"When I started with zoo, Gary Clarke was the Zoo Director and he's always been a really close friend and very, very special," Fawn said. "The animal care staff at that time, they were great, and it gave me almost like a big brother, big sister and mentor along the way."

Topeka Zoo became famous, nationally and globally, for many innovations like having the first geodesic dome, hatching golden eagles in captivity and for starting the accreditation for American Associations of Zoos & Aquariums.

Fawn shared a story that many people don't know.

"One day, Gary actually asked the receptionist to answer the phone World Famous Topeka Zoo and it just stuck," Moser said.

Moser'specialties are animal care, horticulture, guest engagement and special events, but as the current Deputy Director, her primary focus is on bigger projects like the creation of Camp Cowabunga that opened in 2018, the Kay McFarland Japanese Garden from 2020 and the 2023 addition of Giraffe & Friends.

Going forward, it's all about the zoo's new master plan.

"The master plan is the footprint of the zoo, and inside that, is all the different habitats or exhibits that we create," Moser said. "It's reinventing spaces, bringing in new animals, and then making dynamic and memorable experiences."

The zoo is currently in the quiet phase of fundraising, and in the schematics design phase of the project itself. By this October, construction documents could be ready.

"When we finish that in a years time, we're hoping to break ground in the first phase of the project. It's almost about eight to 10 projects all at once into one lump sum so that we can build as fast as we can," She said.

Fawn is happy with the recent progress and excited for what's to come, but she is so proud of the people she works with.

"We have a great staff, they're creative, and they think about taking care of the guest as well as the animal," She said, "and that's very important."

And nothing can create success without strong community involvement and support.

"We have great guests, we have great membership, we have great donors, stakeholders, people that invest in us and trust us," She said. "It's a great feeling to have that."

Fawn enjoys watching movies and working on puzzles in her rare, spare moments.
She also prefers staying behind the scenes, but was pleasantly surprised when learning about her Everything Woman nomination and selection.

"Very humbled," Fawn said. "We have a great team, and they help me just as much as I would help them. It's quite an honor."

She can't wait to tell the public more about the master plan, so stay tuned as we pass on more information in the coming weeks and months.

If you know a woman we should highlight in this segment, please go to ksnt.com and nominate them there. We feature these honorees, during 27 News, on the last Tuesday of each month.