Last year was a difficult one for the Honolulu Zoo. After long grappling with trouble spots such as inconsistent annual city funding and instability in leadership due to a revolving-door situation in the director’s post, it lost accreditation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

But as the facility preps to apply for re-accreditation — key to securing federal grants as well as animal trade or loan deals with high-quality zoos — there are reasons for optimism.

Among them: a new director who has worked at the zoo for decades and is expected to bring stability to the top job; and the flow of a city-voter approved funding stream. In addition, David Earles, executive director of the Honolulu Zoo Society, says that the relationship between the nonprofit and the city-run zoo, which has had bouts of tension, is focused on collaboration.

“The Honolulu Zoo Society has been in existence since 1969. While the words of the mission statement have changed over the years, our primary purpose has always been to support the Honolulu Zoo,” said Earles, who has headed the organization since August 2016. Currently, the society handles zoo memberships, fundraising and outreach, docent rosters and public programs.

Earles, a Minnesota native, has some 20 years of Oahu-based fundraising experience. Previously, he has served as executive director of the Hawaii Meth Project, marketing director for Castle Medical Center and development director for Catholic Charities Hawaii.

While the Honolulu Zoo — formally opened in 1947 and the only zoo within a radius of almost 2,400 miles — is an ever-popular attraction, a city report released in January found that declining admissions has placed a burden on its operating budget. The society is endeavoring to help turn that around with various efforts, including some established favorite events such as twilight tours and zoo camps.

“If we find the right programs,” Earles said, “our ability to provide more funding to the Honolulu Zoo will increase significantly.”

Question: What are some of your primary responsibilities as executive director?

Answer:My focus is making money for the zoo and finding ways to save the zoo money by doing the “nice to have” pieces of a zoo, such as the community outreach and other educational programs that, due to budgetary constraints within the city, may not always be possible.

The society brings in about $1 million annually through its fundraisers, programs and zoo memberships. In recent years we have given $200,000 to $400,000 directly to the zoo by purchasing items they request, which are outside of their current budget. The rest of our funds go to conservation, education programs, salaries in support of these efforts and facilities improvements. … With a strong board of community leaders, we are much more flexible than any government entity ever could be. Working hand in hand, the zoo and the society can accomplish so much more than either organization could on its own.

Q: What’s the relationship between the zoo and the society like these days?

A: Good. No matter how good it gets, though, there is always room for improvement. It helps a lot to take a pragmatic approach and state emphatically that the only purpose of the Zoo Society is to help the zoo. Period. End of story.

It is intriguing to me that two organizations who both have the same common goal have struggled at times in the past to get along. But then again, I recall how my brother and I did, or didn’t, get along from time to time as we grew up.

Once a month I join a conference call with my counterparts at zoos across the nation. There are often 20 to 30 zoo society directors on these calls. It fascinates (and disappoints) me to learn that our situational issues are not unique to Hawaii.

I recently spoke up during a call and voiced my disappointment that the zoo world hadn’t figured out how to get along better. … One person gave an answer that helped me a lot. His opinion is that government agencies, due to the pressures of the election cycle, generally think in short-term bursts of two to four years. Nonprofit zoo societies, due to the makeup of their board of directors, often take long-term approaches. That fundamental difference often causes tension.

I have worked with my board to understand that potential difference, and it has helped us find ways to … grow together rather than continue to struggle to find common ground.

Q: Last week, Linda Santos, who has worked at the zoo since the mid-1980s, most recently as acting zoo director, was named as director — the fifth in roughly five years. Thoughts?

A:I have worked closely with Linda for more than a year now and have always found her to be someone I can work with. She is easygoing and yet of strong character. She is a stable force within an organization that has had a lot of turnover in administration, and I’m excited about the future under her leadership.

Q: In response to the matter of inconsistent funding, in November Oahu voters approved a City Charter amendment that creates dedicated funding fed by property tax revenues. Will this fix that problem?

A: From my perspective, it does resolve the one issue from the last accreditation review. The AZA review committee stated they wanted to see consistent funding. The 0.5 percent of real property tax is a consistent and reliable funding amount.

On a related note … this amendment did not create a new stream of funding. Instead it locked in a minimum amount of funding ($6.5 million to $8 million annually) so that the zoo has a base level of support every year as a starting point for its budget request. (If the zoo fails to secure re-accreditation, the stream will run dry in July 2023.)

Q:Thoughts on the city report noting a decline in zoo admissions?

A: Attendance can, and should, be improved. That same report, which was funded by the society, showed that while Oahu residents are well aware of and love the Honolulu Zoo, up to 60 percent of the tourists walking the streets of Waikiki don’t even know there is a zoo down the street. … We are working on plans to change that.

Q: What do you say to the argument that zoos are obsolete — that animals in captivity should be cautiously released into the wild or relocated to reserves where they can roam freely?

A: Other than having an annual membership here from 1999 to 2003 when my children were young, I hadn’t really paid attention to zoos. I would have been hard-pressed to come up with an argument for or against the existence of zoos. I am actually an aquarium person. I have a 150-gallon fish tank at home and breed African cichlids. I can talk all day about my Malawi Peacocks and how they follow me around the room when they are hungry, which is always. But now, working in here and talking with the keepers, seeing the dedication to their work … I have become a huge advocate for zoos.

I work hard to learn all I can about this world, and, in fact, just got back from the annual conference for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in Indianapolis. The passion these people have for not just the animals in their care, but also each species as a whole, is amazing.

Don’t get me started because I can now talk all day about conservation as well as the role zoos have in saving entire species. … There’s nothing quite like seeing an animal like an elephant or a giraffe up close and personal to realize these animals must be saved for future generations.

Q: What do you enjoy most during a zoo visit?

A: I could sit and watch the fennec foxes all day. Also, there is something special about listening to a keeper talk about “his” elephants during the keeper talk. And yes, this is self-serving because the society runs the program, but I love going on the twilight tours.

Observing the animals and learning more about them from our guides during twilight tours is a wonderful experience. … Humans are the only living creatures that wander around in the hot sun and expect every other living creature to be out and about. In the evening it is cool and quiet. The animals are far more active. The wild dogs run back and forth awaiting their evening meal. I have even seen the aardvark out walking around.

… I have now been on perhaps 15 twilight tours and I still learn something every time about the animals that are privileged to call the Honolulu Zoo home.