In reflecting on the years at Lincoln Park Zoo, 30 years is a long time to think about, but to condense it, I think the highlight of my time at Lincoln Park was the fact that I started the rebuilding of the Old Zoo. I mentioned earlier that Marlin was able to create the little Children’s Zoo at one edge of the zoo, and that was it. And my challenge was to get the animals out of jail. I thought it was important to give the animals best possible facilities. And I was fortunate that through the Zoo Society’s fundraising, we worked out an understanding with the Chicago Park District, the tax base, the owner of the zoo, that every time I raised a dollar in the private sector, they would match it. And so over the years we accomplished many tens of millions of dollars of money raised and money spent. We were able to bring not all, but the majority of the animal spaces to a much more humane, ecological, understandable area. And I think that in looking back, I feel good about, we pretty much brought the zoo up to snuff the way a collection of animals should be housed in today’s world.
