The St. Louis Zoo has received a $1.5 million gift from the William R. Orthwein Jr. and Laura Rand Orthwein Foundation to endow the position of animal nutritionist. Currently, nutritionist Debra Schmidt manages the daily diets of 18,000 animals.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the position of animal nutritionist has been endowed at any zoo," said St. Louis Zoo President Jeffrey Bonner. "There are just a handful of zoos around the nation with full-time nutritionists and we’re quite proud of the work we are able to do."

Last year, the Dana Brown Charitable Trust gave the Zoo $3 million to endow Bonner’s position of chief executive officer. Like universities, museums and zoos are now looking to charitable foundations to help cover the cost of salaries.