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John Berry stood at the edge of a large, grassy enclosure during a recent walk through the Smithsonian National Zoo and pointed over his shoulder at a scimitar-horned oryx.

Seeing the animal that close is only possible because of the zoo's conservation efforts, which have saved the species of oryx and several other species from almost certain extinction, he said.

"I think my passion for conservation was borne from coming to the zoo as a child," said Berry, the director of the National Zoo.

Berry grew up in the Twinbrook neighborhood of Rockville and attended St. Jude Catholic School in Aspen Hill and Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, then in Wheaton, before going on to the University of Maryland to earn a degree in politics and government. He now lives in Northwest D.C.

He said his skill is management and his passion is conservation, so being named head of the National Zoo three years ago was a dream come true.

But it does come with its challenges.

"I'm worried," he said about the zoo's financial situation this year. "After covering the mandated salaries and benefits, we need $3 million to operate the zoo. This year we're essentially only getting $1 million from the federal government."

The zoo's investments lost money in the financial markets and he is only expecting to get approximately $500,000 from the Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ), the zoo's nonprofit partner, he said.

"Two years ago we got the $3 million and things worked well," he said. "Last year we received $2 million from the government, and $1 million from FONZ covered the rest. This year I'm kind of at a loss. We can barely cover food and medicine for the animals."

Food and medicine cost around $1 million per year, maintaining the zoo's computer system costs another $1 million, and the final $1 million covers everything else, including transporting the animals and other operating expenses, Berry said.

He said he is worried that the zoo's financial crunch could have an effect on its conservation efforts, which often go unseen by patrons. What visitors see in Rock Creek Park in Northwest Washington, D.C., is the 163-acre facility. But the zoo also operates a 3,200-acre facility in Front Royal, Va., where most of the science, conservation and breeding efforts take place, Berry said.

And it's the science and conservation work that draw donations, he said.

"Foundations don't really want to donate money for the operating budget," Berry said. "People expect a federal institution to be able to pay to for itself."

Still, research and conservation dollars are one of his many focuses. On Oct. 9, Berry led a conservation ecology class from Potomac School in McLean, Va., on a tour of the zoo that highlighted its conservation efforts.

"The scimitar-horned oryx is extinct in the wild," he said. "In a very real sense, we are a living ark for these animals. Without us, they wouldn't be here."

There are five animal species at the National Zoo that are extinct in the wild, Berry said.

A report released by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature early this month said that almost one in four mammal species faces extinction world-wide. Berry said that while that concerns him, he is even more concerned by a less-noticed threat to the world's amphibian species.

"Twenty-five percent of mammals — as startling as that is — the number of amphibian species that are threatened with extinction is 50 percent," he said, adding that is particularly frightening because many important discoveries that benefit humans are being made by studying those amphibians.

"For example, there's a species of frog out there that scientists think may provide a cure for the AIDS crisis," Berry said.

That's why his most pressing conservation effort now is centered on a 120-mile stretch of tropical forest in Panama. More than 100 species of frogs live in that area, he said, and a deadly fungus is spreading through at a rate of 30 miles per year, killing them all.

Berry said he is trying to raise $2 million over five years to send scientists into Central America so they can work on finding a way to stop the spread of the fungus.

"We have three partners now, and we're looking to get five total," he said.

So far Defenders of Wildlife, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Africam Safari have signed on in association with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute of Panama and the National Zoo.

So despite the pinch brought on by the economic crisis and funding shortfalls, Berry remains hopeful. He plans to appear before Congress this year to ask for more money for his operating budget, and he expects to raise the final $2 million needed for the $45 million elephant house renovation project.

But what keeps Berry upbeat in the midst of so much stress and pressure is getting out into the park every day, seeing the animals and knowing that he is making a difference.

That, he said, is why he loves his job.