Jack Hanna has been working with animals for decades as a zookeeper, a zoo director and a popular guest and host on a wide variety of television shows on which he shared his knowledge and passion for wildlife.
Now, it appears that Hanna’s animal handling days are over as the star’s health continues to decline. He was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s in 2019, and in the past four years his condition has worsened so much that he can’t remember huge chunks of his life, or even his family.
According to a profile done by The Columbus Dispatch – Columbus, Ohio, is the location of the zoo where Hanna spent most of his career – he can remember his wife, Suzi, his dog, a golden retriever named Brassy, and occasionally his oldest daughter (he has three).
One of the many things he can’t remember is Columbus itself.
She recalled one instance in which he told her that he’d gone blind, and after taking him to see a doctor, it was discovered that what actually happened was that he’d stacked five pairs of contacts in his eyes, forgetting over and over that he’d put them in.
Jack Hanna poses for a photo with wife Suzi in 2018. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
“My husband is still in there somewhere,” she told the newspaper. “There are still those sweet, tender moments – you know, pieces of him that made me and the rest of the world fall in love with him. It’s hard. Real hard some days. But he took care of me all those years, and so it’s my turn to take care of him.”
JACK HANNA URGES TOUGH RULES ON EXOTIC ANIMALS
When he was diagnosed in 2019, he immediately denied having any sort of problem with his cognitive function, which doctors say is normal. He did, however, make his wife promise that she would never tell the public about the news.
“People will think I’m dumb, Sue,” Suzi remembered him saying. “We can’t tell anyone, Sue. Promise me.”
She did promise, but in 2021 allegations were made that he had lied to the public about the animals he showed in his television appearances, and that instead of being taken from the zoo, they had been bounced around between backyard breeders and smaller zoos that were essentially “animal prisons.”
“He just kept saying, ‘Sue, you told them, didn’t you? You promised me, Sue, you promised,’” Suzi said. “It would have broken Jack’s heart to hear what was going on at the zoo. If we had tried to tell him, he wouldn’t have understood.”
Jack Hanna has also hosted his own shows. (Steve Fenn/Disney General Entertainment Content)
As the news continued to make waves, more and more people wanted to hear from Hanna himself, and that’s when his family decided they had no choice but to tell the world about his Alzheimer’s.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
Jack Hanna poses with his youngest daughter Julie and his wife. (Tim Boyles/Getty Images)
Suzi remains his main caretaker, with help from their children when they can make it to Montana. The daughters have begged their mother to get professional help to aid in his care, but she refuses, saying, “I just want it to be your dad and I for as long as I can.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“The river, the sun, Brassy, our walks… That’s what we have left. The Jack people knew isn’t here anymore, but pieces of my husband are. And I’m going to hang onto them for as long as I can.”