On his first real day at work with Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom,” Peter Gros got busted for embellishing a skill during his job interview, came face to face with great white sharks in the wild and helped produce film footage that still regales audiences today.
Gros, who joined the award-winning television adventure show in 1985, said he will bring some of that shark footage to Moraine Valley Community College April 14 for two public presentations.
The show’s mission is to educate and entertain audiences by bringing them up close with the world’s diverse array of wildlife, Gros said.
“We’ve had many brushes with danger but we’re always careful in that we always consult with local wildlife experts,” he added.
A local expert brought Gros up to speed after the man realized the new TV host, who was about to take a dive in waters rife with the world’s most revered sharks, really didn’t know how to SCUBA.
Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” premiered on Jan. 6, 1963, taking viewers to the far corners of the world and studying wild animals in their natural habitats. Originally hosted by zoologist Marlin Perkins, the half-hour show aired on Sundays. In 1985, after Perkins fell ill and Jim Fowler became host, Gros was brought on board to help.
Gros said he grew up watching the show.
“It was the one show I was allowed to watch on Sunday afternoon,” he said, during a phone interview from his home just north of Napa Valley. “I never dreamed I would end up in that sort of a career.”
Gros grew up in a very small town in the Hudson valley surrounded by woods and wildlife. He spent “an awful lot of my time in nature.”
After high school, he attended now-closed Silvermine College in Connecticut for a time before heading to Aspen, Colo.
“We all don’t make our best decisions at that time in our lives and I didn’t get back to college quickly,” he said.
Instead, he ended up doing a tour in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy Seabees, building roads and hospitals. After 21 months, he was released in California, where he headed back to school to study animal husbandry and training.
“That was a much better fit for me. It was sort of the beginning of my career dealing with conservation and wildlife,” he said.
After graduation, he was hired by a small park to work with young animals, he said.
That park grew and then Gros was promoted to Marine World/Africa USA in Northern California, where he said he eventually became director.
“We had a concept there that was revolutionary for its day where we would cage the people, the public,” he said.
More Top Picks Best Water Filters For Home
“We’d turn animals loose on an island,” bringing the public along the shore to view them from rafts.
“We had great success. We had numerous animals, endangered and otherwise, reproduce very well because of that,” he said.
Among the animals that had to be hand-raised was one of the largest litters of tigers ever born.
“There was a photo taken of me bottle feeding these baby tigers,” Gros said. “Back in those days it went on the (news) wire. (This was before the internet.) And I got a call from the Johnny Carson show, inviting us on.
“And who was there but Jim Fowler from ‘Wild Kingdom’,” Gros said.
During that show, Gros said he shared with the public that he intended to release the tigers into the wild once they were old enough.
Afterward, Fowler told him that Perkins was very ill and they were hoping he would be able to contribute to some of the shows.
“I thought for about three seconds and said, ‘I think I’d like that,'” Gros said.
“I’d only worked with wildlife in captivity but it’s every wildlife person’s dream to work in the wild.”
During the interview process in Omaha, Gros said he was asked all kinds of questions about working with birds of prey, large cats and endangered species.
“One question they asked — keep in mind I was interviewing for the best job in the world — was if I could SCUBA dive,” he said. “I had been snorkeling and had once had a regulator in my mouth for a few minutes, so I said, ‘Of course, I SCUBA dive.'”
Soon after that interview he received a call asking for his measurements. The caller told him, “You’re going to be fitted for a wetsuit because your first show will be taking place in Australia, a place called Dangerous Reef, where you’ll be filming white sharks.”
Gros quickly contacted a friend who offered to give him a SCUBA lesson.
“We spent four or five hours in a pool. And I got very comfortable underwater and my friend said, ‘You’ll be fine,'” Gros recalled.
A couple of weeks later, they were anchored off an old shrimp boat at Dangerous Reef, off the coast of South Australia, a place “where white sharks come in and where seals go to pup.”
“I was just about to go in the water, the sharks were coming up to the back of the boat, and I’ll never forget this hand on my shoulder. It was the head dive master who said, ‘Mr. Gros, how long have you been diving?’ I said, ‘Oh, I’ve been diving a little while. I was just diving a few weeks ago with a friend. Why do you ask?’
“He said, ‘Well, you just put your regulator on your tank backwards. Now, tell me the truth,'” Gros recalled, laughing.
“So, I had to tell him exactly what my skill level was and he said, ‘Stick with me; you’ll be fine.’ He taught me some more basics and there is some very famous footage (that came from that outing) that I’ll be using in my show, of a 15-foot white shark swimming with us and almost getting into the cage with us.”
Gros, now in his 60s, serves as a “Wild Kingdom” ambassador, traveling the country to talk with the public about wildlife and conservation, as well as to promote shows.
Though he said he believes the public and particularly children still “love animals,” technology has changed the way much of the public experiences them.
“It has accelerated the speed at which we can retrieve data. The pace of life seems to be much faster, but attention spans seem to be a lot shorter,” Gros said. “So, during a show there may be a lot more adventure, there may be a lot more teeth, more claws. (Films) seem to have to have a lot more fear-based activity to grab their attention. Making wildlife shows is also about ratings but the important thing is getting young families to watch. As long as we’re disseminating wildlife information that is educational and accurate, then that’s all part of wildlife filming.”
During his live shows, which often feature small animals, he said, “I like to connect young people and families with wildlife. Up close and personal. Obviously, everyone can’t get on a plane and go to Africa to see wildlife at its best. What I hope to do is get them to see wildlife up close in a fun way. I include some bloopers from the show.”
He said though the format of the produced show has changed over the years to include a web series, children’s specials, a YouTube presence, in addition to the live shows, the overriding message remains the same.
“Wildlife and open spaces are important to our lives,” he said.
Contrary to a lot of the hype in the media, he added, “The state of the planet right now to me is optimistic. Sadly, we tend to hear mostly the stories about gloom and doom but the more I travel, the more I hear stories about, for instance, the black-footed ferret, which we thought was completely gone but has been discovered and is now making a comeback. Our national bird, the bald eagle, is coming back and in many places is off endangered species lists. So, is the peregrine falcon. Black bear and grizzly bear populations are doing well. Many species of whales are doing well. The California condor, which was almost completely extinct, is now a wonderfully successful re-introductory program.”
Gros said his personal goal is to share as many of these good news wildlife stories to create hope for the next generation.
“Let them see if we all do our part, this planet is resilient and if we’re careful and use our resources in a frugal manner, this planet’s not going anywhere,” he said. “As long as we keep trying and as long as the next generation gets involved and realizes it doesn’t take millions of dollars to make a change. You can make a change locally and individually, I think there’s a tremendous amount of hope.”
He said he also hopes the shows inspire younger generations to venture into the great outdoors.
“We have sort of a nature deficit disorder among kids today,” he said. “They’re spending so much time in front of screens and in malls. More time being sedentary; less time outside. More research is showing it’s healthier for us to have a balance of both nature and work.”
Reflecting on his own career, Gros said, “To see giraffes loping across the veldt in Africa is an amazing thing. To swim with whales and dolphins is something you dream about for weeks and weeks. I spent time with tigers and rhinos in Nepal. They’re just incredible animals.”
All animals, he said, are “beautiful and magnificent in their own way. Part of the message I hope to impart is we don’t need to be afraid of wild animals. We just need to respect them and enjoy the fact that some are making a return.”
[email protected] More Top Picks Chi Professional
Twitter @dvickroy
Peter Gros from the Original Mutual of Omaha’s ‘Wild Kingdom’
When: 3 and 7:30 p.m. April 14
Where: Dorothy Menker Theater, Moraine Valley Community College, 9000 W. College Pkwy., Palos Hills
Cost: $25 ($20 seniors and staff; $10 students)
Information: 708-974-4300