I’ve always been partial to the great apes since that’s where I started in a zoo. And we had two gorillas in Brownsville that were the original ones that came down. They were imported as five year old animals, more or less. And they went to the Omaha Zoo originally where Warren Thomas was and were held there from 1968, until we could take ’em in 1970 in Brownsville. Lamidock, and Katoga were the two first gorillas that came in. They went on to produce several offspring. And so I knew all of them closely, not nearly as closely as the curatorial staff did or the keepers, but knew them by name. Had one chimpanzee in particular, I had a close relationship with, and I’m not sure why, but she seemed to single me out as someone that she trusted, her name was rusty.
