He showed up in spurs and boots and worn jeans and a flannel shirt and a cowboy hat. And it was a this and that and it was a char tobacco, but there was nobody alive who could catch wild animals like Roy could catch, because he had like 20 years with the Fish and Wildlife Service as somebody who was hired to exterminate predators. And I remember somewhere along in one of the meetings, he said, “You know, I never believed I’d go from hunting them to catching them. I’d go from a hunter to a conservationist, isn’t this a wonderful life?” And it really was, and so that was the first, and I had to justify to the AZA board. And it was no easy task, ’cause there are a bunch of old curmudgeons then, 1980, there were some real curmudgeons there, that we should embrace this relationship with the Fish and Wildlife Service and demonstrate that we could be partners, not necessarily antagonists. And it worked, it worked well for the Mexican Wolf, it worked for the association, it worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service. It began a new era of understanding and cooperation. And I am most proud of sticking to my guns and trying to squeeze enough money out of the association to send me to that first meeting.
