Most definitely the being a keeper first and then a veterinarian and curator before I became a director, made me sensitive to the entire spectrum of animal care. And I appreciated the work that keepers did and the fact that they would have to be the eyes and ears of the veterinarian. If you couldn’t work with the keepers, you couldn’t take care of their animals because you could not observe them as much as they needed to be observed to know what was going on in their lives. So early on, I realized that you either had the confidence and respect and mutual respect with the keepers or you couldn’t function as a veterinarian. Conversely, when I became a director, I had been through all of these other positions and I realized that that to be a director, unless you had the confidence and respect and could work with the staff members, it wouldn’t work. And yes, in several instances I have been involved, after I became a director, with conflict between veterinarians and curators. And at conferences, or sometimes with phone calls, I’d be consulted by other zoo directors who say, “Hey, you’re a vet and we’re having problems with our animal care department and the veterinary department with.” And usually it was turf issues.
