I don’t think anybody else’s mistakes ever affected me except my main concern was giving the animals the most humane care we possibly could, most natural environment and make sure that we had cooperative breeding programs. And I think the zoos that I admired most were those that were ahead of me in that regard. At that time, I always idolized the Bronx Zoo, the Brookfield Zoo, the San Diego Zoo, the National Zoo. They all had great conservation programs, research programs. They were all involved in more than just a menagerie of animals. So those were my ideals that I try to pattern our zoo after. But also our Missouri botanical garden in St. Louis was a botanical garden of vivarium, a center for scientific research and I hoped that our zoo could become more of that kind of a scientific institution rather than just a circus with animal performers. And as zoo director, you were meeting lots of people.
