{"id":328521,"date":"2026-06-09T02:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T02:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/328521\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T02:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T02:52:32","slug":"el-paso-zoo-appoints-gary-lunsford-as-permanent-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/328521\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso Zoo appoints Gary Lunsford as permanent director"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">EL PASO, Texas (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktsm.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:KTSM;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;KTSM&quot;}\" class=\"link \">KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 The City of El Paso announced the appointment of Gary Lunsford as the permanent Director of the El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens following a national search.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lunsford served as the Interim Director of the Zoo since September 2025, officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe are excited to name Gary Lunsford as the zoo\u2019s permanent Director. With more than 30 years of experience in zoo operations and an unwavering dedication to our animals and the teams who care for them, makes him the ideal leader for the Zoo\u2019s next chapter,\u201d said City Manager Dionne Mack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials said Lunsford has built a career as dynamic as the wildlife he protects. He\u2019s served as an accreditation inspector for both the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and Canada\u2019s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lunsford came to El Paso from Massachusetts, where he served as Director of the Buttonwood Park Zoo. Before that, he led the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">There, he reportedly oversaw a team that commissioned the Journey to Churchill exhibit, an award-winning $90 million transformation of 10 acres of the zoo to an immersive experience of northern culture and biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In September 2025, the former Zoo Director, Joe Montisano, was placed on administrative leave after a series of controversies and sexual harassment allegations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"> El Paso Zoo director placed on administrative leave <\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In November 2025, the City of El Paso told KTSM 9 News Montisano was \u201cno longer employed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a class=\"link  yahoo-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/el-paso-zoo-director-joe-051317190.html\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:El Paso Zoo Director Joe Montisano \u2018no longer employed with City\u2019;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;El Paso Zoo Director Joe Montisano \u2018no longer employed with City\u2019&quot;}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> El Paso Zoo Director Joe Montisano \u2018no longer employed with City\u2019 <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lunsford oversaw other zoos across the U.S. Those listed were in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Milwaukee County\u00a0and New Bedford. He also worked in Canada at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktsm.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.&quot;}\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 The City of El Paso announced the appointment of Gary Lunsford as the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[117363,138,140,139,117364,27],"class_list":["post-328521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-assiniboine-park-zoo","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-lunsford","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}