Poise and Power at the Zoo
A retired Toastmaster loves Lucifer, the 6,000 pound celebrity herbivore
By Julie Bawden Davis
When Vicky Iozzia retired from teaching four years ago and decided to volunteer for a worthy cause, she never dreamed that she’d be working with a 6,000-pound celebrity.
“During my interview at Florida’s Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, I highlighted my Toastmasters membership and my love of public speaking,” says Iozzia, who has been a Toastmaster for 13 years. Her public speaking experience and ability to adapt to just about any situation landed her the job running the park’s reptile show and hippopotamus show.
While the other presentation highlights alligators and snakes, the starring show is Lu, the hippo.
“Lu is a former TV and movie star and knows how to play the audience,” says Iozzia, a DTM and president of the Radiant Ridge club in Crystal River, Florida. “He’s a real ham and steals all of the attention, but I don’t mind. When I arrive at the park in the morning and check on Lu, he winks at me as he lounges next to his lagoon.”
Later in the day Iozzia talks about the lives of hippos as she stands on a catwalk, while Lu situates himself underneath her and opens his mouth wide.
“As I talk to the audience, I throw pieces of melon into Lu’s mouth back where his big molars are,” she says. When there is no more melon to feed him, I show Lu the empty bucket and he wiggles his ears and swims off.”
Iozzia’s goal with her talk is to teach people to respect hippos, alligators and snakes. “I enjoy educating people about such animals and their place in the world,” she says. She presents important information to the local residents, “I’ll point out that female alligators grow to about 10 feet, and males reach 14 feet long and that feeding them is a bad idea because it causes them to lose their fear of humans. In Lu's show, I let them know that he weighs the same as a Hummer car. I’ll say that he’s a good guy, and we love each other very much, but we have a long distance relationship for a reason. He’s very territorial.”
While the animals at the wildlife park are Florida natives, Lu is an exception. An African hippopotamus, he was born at the San Diego Zoo on January 26, 1960. Lu, whose full name is Lucifer, was a “child star” early in that decade playing leading roles in movies and television shows. His credits include the movies Daktari and Cowboy in Africa, and television specials such as the Art Linkletter Show and the Herb Alpert Special.
Lu weighed just 90 pounds at birth, but gained weight as a child actor and eventually became too large, at which point he was retired to the park in Florida. He lived there without incident until the state took the park over from private owners and decided to shift focus and remove all of the exotic species, including Lu.
“The park was going to get rid of Lu until people in the community started a petition and presented it to the governor, who made Lu an honorary citizen in 1991 and gave him the zoo as his home for life,” says Iozzia. At that time, his name was officially changed from Lucifer to Lu.
A vegetarian, Lu’s daily diet consists of 15 pounds of alfalfa hay, four scoops of a herbivore supplement and a five-gallon bucket of vegetables and fruit. Every January he celebrates his birthday with local elementary children who come to see him munch on bread covered with frosting.
Iozzia is certain that Toastmasters has a lot to do with her ability to share the stage with a 6,000-pound hippo. “Thanks to my Toastmasters training I can perform in any situation,” she says. “I feel so lucky to be working with Lu; it’s something I never would have expected. So many doors have opened because of this organization.”
Iozzia is grateful for the skills and confidence that her twelve years as a Toastmaster have given her, whether she is clowning, volunteering at the local hospital or participating as a Guardian ad Litem.
She is a member of three Toastmasters clubs in Florida and never tires of participating in meetings. She always says, “There has never been a time when I attended a meeting that I wasn’t glad I came and that I didn’t learned something.” She has met some of the best people who are now her closest friends. She also hopes that Lu is around to feed and love for many years to come.
Julie Bawden Davis is a freelance writer based in Southern California. Reach her at Julie@JulieBawdenDavis.com.