When I first came to the zoo, I guess for me, I had to figure out how to handle a large group of people. Administratively, I’d had no professional exposure to any classes or anything about running an organization. My animal hospital was kind of self-contained unit, and I had a very special historical perspective there because I started a one-man operation. I was the janitor, the floor cleaner, the cage scrubber, the doctor, the you name it. And I knew every iota of work in that animal hospital, from that moment on. I can even recall one day I was washing the window of the place out in front, and the sidewalk there in Harlem Avenue. And a woman came along with her dog, and asked me if the doctor was in. And I smiled to her and said, “Yes, I’ll go see.” And we both had a good laugh about it, when she came in, I’d washed my hands and took care of the patient.
