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Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I want to speak for a few minutes about a favorite son in Louisiana, but to do that, I have to give my remarks a little context.

I think, like most Americans and, I know, like the Presiding Officer, I love animals. I grew up in a rural area in Louisiana. And let's see. We had dogs--not all at the same time, but we had dogs. We had cats. We had hamsters. We had chipmunks. We had squirrels. We had alligators, baby alligators.

Now, the danger of a baby alligator is that they become a big alligator, and we used to keep our little, baby alligators--their names were Tim and Tubo--in a big washbasin in our backyard, and we put wire on the top. The alligators--they were about this long--were in the tub. Why would we keep wire on the top? Because the neighborhood cats would try to get in there and eat them.

Well, Tim and Tubo grew, and they grew, and they grew, and, one day, we forgot to put the screen wire on the top of the washbasin with the water in which Tim and Tubo were residing. By this time, they were about this long. And one of our neighbor's favorite cats, all of a sudden, just had three legs. And we had to release Tim and Tubo at that point.

Dad said: No, Tim and Tubo are too big. We have got to release them back to the swamp.

Well, I remember we had a baby possum, and I am probably leaving some varmints out. But I love animals. I especially love dogs. I have two at home. I wouldn't ask Becky to choose between me and our pups. And I love when people bring their dogs to work.

I am not going to wade into this fierce debate about what kind of pet and what kind of animal is best, but I think we can all agree that there is a special bond between our species and our animal friends. Animals can teach us a lot. Animals teach us love. Animals teach us patience. Animals teach us compassion. Animals, especially dogs, teach us responsibility. Animals teach us to appreciate God's creation. Through our connection with animals, including but not limited to dogs, we all gain a deeper respect for the world around us.

Now, in Louisiana, we are blessed to have many animal havens. Some of our animals, of course, are wild. I can remember in my State when alligators were almost extinct. Now we have more alligators than people. By the way, the alligators are surprisingly well organized. So be careful.

But we also have a lot of zoos. We have aquariums, none better than those in New Orleans, and those of you who have been to New Orleans may know this. New Orleans is home to what we call the Audubon Nature Institute. That is a nonprofit that we set up in Louisiana. It operates the Audubon Zoo in Uptown New Orleans; the Audubon Aquarium on the riverfront, down near the French Quarter--the Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium we call it; the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center; the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species; and the Audubon Coastal Wildlife Network. It is sort of our group of institutions all under the umbrella of the Audubon Nature Institute, and they also do world-class research and work in conservation.

Every year, the Audubon Nature Institute and all of its institutions that make it up bring thousands of Louisianians and hundreds of thousands of visitors in our State closer to nature. It fuels our love for wildlife, and it fuels our love for the outdoors.

Audubon Park, where our zoo is located--our first institution before we added the aquarium and the other animal havens--wasn't always a prized institution. It wasn't. One man--one person--had a lot of help, but one person led the effort to turn what most of us once referred to as an animal ghetto--our zoo in Audubon Park. It was. It was an animal ghetto but what today we call both an animal haven and an animal heaven. That man's name is Ron Forman--Ron Forman.

Ron joined the Audubon Park and Zoo in 1972. That seems like yesterday to me, but to our pages here in the front row, it is a long time ago. Ron started when he was young. He started as a liaison to city hall in New Orleans.

At the time, the zoo in Audubon Park was a disaster. It was just a disaster. The enclosures for the animals were small. They were dirty. They were really filthy. They were prison-like. Ron was asked to describe them one time.

He said:

They are prison-like.

This is unacceptable. The condition in which we placed our animals was an embarrassment to the city. It was an embarrassment to the people of Louisiana, and the people knew it. Ron Forman sensed that. He had the vision to be able to say: You know, I can lead an effort. I am not just going to go to government and ask for a bunch of money. I can lead an effort, Ron said, in the community to build support for the zoo, and he did.

He not only improved the zoo--we have an aquarium. We have an insectarium. We have an R&D--a research and development--park. We have a conservation park. Ron Forman delivered. He delivered for the human species, and he delivered for our animal friends.

By 1977, Ron had climbed the ranks, and he became director of the Audubon Zoo. Then he took off and so did our zoo and our animal havens. He led the effort to transform Audubon Park, which you know is right across from Tulane University, into the Audubon Nature Institute, which, as I said, is the nonprofit conservation and zoological system we know today.

Ron helped--and he had a lot of help. I mean, there are thousands of people who contributed, but Ron led the charge. He helped transform a cramped and dirty zoo into a state-of-the-art conservation network, including a zoo, an aquarium, an insectarium, gardens, research institutions, and conservation efforts. And the Audubon Nature Institute has thrived. It hasn't been easy, but it has thrived in large part, in substantial part because of Ron Forman.

Now, we got hit by Hurricane Katrina, and it was bad. When we did, the Audubon Zoo and the insectarium and the aquarium and Audubon Park were terribly damaged. Ron didn't get discouraged. He saw the zoo, for example, as a beacon of hope--not as an object of depression but as a beacon of hope.

First of all, because of the precautions that he and his team took, we only lost three animals in the storm at the zoo. And if you have been to the zoo, there are trees everywhere. It is just a small miracle. God smiled on us in that respect. The aquarium, unfortunately, down on the river, suffered substantial, substantial losses.

It wasn't easy to rebuild all of those facilities. It was very, very hard, but Ron Forman understood. He understood instinctively that we needed to get these institutions back up on their feet because families needed a place to go to forget their hardships.

Hurricane Katrina hit in late August. Ron Forman stood up. I thought he had lost his mind. He stood up, and he said: I am going to have Audubon Zoo reopened by Thanksgiving weekend.

We were hitting August. Forman stands up in front of God, country, and Louisiana and says: I am going to have the zoo open by November.

I thought Ron had been day drinking. I said: It can't be done.

I didn't say that publicly. I thought, if anybody can do it, Ron Forman can. He did.

This is what he said. He said: We are a city without kids and families, and a city without kids and families right now--because so many of our families and kids have left--is a city without soul. It is a city without heart. So we just thought it was critical to get the thing open for Thanksgiving weekend.

And he did. The zoo opened on Thanksgiving weekend. We were able to give thousands of parents and children a sense of normalcy and optimism during the holiday season at a very difficult time for my State and for my city.

Now, Ron also led us through the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many businesses and many institutions, the Audubon Zoo and Aquarium and Gardens had to close or restrict attendance to try to help stop the spread of the virus. Attendance at the zoo dropped 50 percent--50 percent. We had almost no cashflow. Under different leadership, we wouldn't have made it. We wouldn't have made it, but we had a secret weapon. We had Ron Forman, because Ron had the passion, and he had the business sense, and he had the support of the community and the support of government to guide the nonprofit through the pandemic.

Now, for the first time in 50 years, Louisiana is looking for a new leader for the Audubon Nature Institute because Ron is stepping down.

I am sad to see him go. I am happy for him. He is still going to stay on as president emeritus, and we are still going to be able to access his big heart and tap his big brain, but we are going to have a new leader. But thank God Ron is going to stick around for a while to continue his advocacy while we look for a new CEO.

Ron Forman made the Audubon Zoo--he made New Orleans home to one of the country's--one of the world's best zoos. He made New Orleans home to one of the world's best aquariums and best insectariums and best research and development centers and best conservation efforts. He didn't do it alone, but he led us, and that is why I wanted to rise today. I just wanted to thank Ron. I wanted to thank Ron Forman for his vision. I wanted to thank Ron Forman for his guts. Some of the things Ron did were not always popular. They were right. But it took courage. I want to thank Ron Forman for his dedication. I want to thank Ron Forman for his love of animals, and I want to thank Ron Forman for his love of people. He brought us all together in New Orleans. I just will never forget him for what he did for us.

So, Ron, if you are listening, thank you, my friend, for giving so much to our animal friends. Thank you, Ron Forman, for giving so much to the people of Louisiana and the people of America. Thank you, Ron Forman, for your leadership.

I yield to my colleague.

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