Well, I guess I can say in retrospect, I was truly fortunate. First of all, the zoo is not a separate entity. The zoo is owned and operated by the Chicago Park District, and the Park District had a full-time PR staff. So that these were people that looked after all the different activities that occurred throughout Chicago, including Lincoln Park Zoo. And I found out very early though, that the press were wanting to deal directly with me rather than going through the Park District’s Public Relations Department. And I felt that if I dealt with them fairly, openly, and honestly that hopefully they would reciprocate and treat the zoo and me the same way. Dealing with the media isn’t easy, people can take stories and twist them in many different ways. By making myself accessible and available, it didn’t matter if it was a Sunday afternoon, if something happened and they felt they wanted to get some information about that item at the zoo, they’d call me, if I was home, I’d talked to them.
