I had a great relationship with the Texas ranchers because I was right there and two of the ranchers who ended up with rhinos served on my board of directors. So I knew ’em well, they knew me and we already had a mutual rapport. I was asked to sort of spearhead the conservation side or the husbandry side of the ranchers, transitioning into rhino conservation to provide some what AZA might look at as a credibility, someone that they thought would be sure that the animals were cared for. And there had been some early on misunderstandings between some of the ranchers and the zoo association, rhino taxon advisory group. And so I was asked to sort of mediate and try… The ranchers had the land and they had beautiful habitat. The zoo association had access to some rhinos, and then another association called Game Conservation International, which is primarily hunters from Africa or from the US that they hunted in Africa and had taken a very personal interest in rhinos. They wanted to be involved.
