Interview 6125 – Caption Index: 58
He called, he said, “Jack, you know something?… Read More
He called, he said, “Jack, you know something?… Read More
“Jim Fowler has a 2000 acres of place down there, “Albany, Georgia, and needs somebody “to help with the animals. “You know, I think you might want to try that.” Now I had the two kids, no, all three of them, the girl, little girls. Read More
But I guess what, where I’m coming from is, yes, everything I did from the animal clinic at the age of 11 to 16 cleaning cages, I can even apply things there to today. Now you talked about the Florida in 1960, 73, your career took a turn. Read More
How did you get to this place in Sanford, in the Sanford Zoo?… Read More
In 1973, okay, I graduated in 69 with my wife. In 1970, 71, 72, I got in the army there for about a year or so there. In and out of the pet pet shop business, and then that kind of thing. Then all of a sudden, Stan Brock, the… Read More
But now when I became a zookeeper, then a curator in Knoxville, and then that’s about where I went to. And then I was just lucky, and it’s long, we get into that, how I got to central Florida zoo, where I was the director of five employees. But you… Read More
So I learned by reading, I learn by experience. That was invaluable to me, those things I learned when I was 18 20, 21, 22, 23. I also learned about accidents. And we’ll get into that in a second. If you read my book about how that little boy lost… Read More
Things happen to all of us. I could go on and on and tell you mistakes I made. You know, but we’ll get into that too. When I had the Wallendas walk across the tigers. I mean, this, the crazy things I did back then. I would never do that… Read More
You kidding me?… Read More
As I’ve traveled the world, every, I mean, I’ve traveled for 30-something years doing this. And I’ve not been to every corner, but about every corner. And so what you see out there are people who love animals. You see people who have consumption animals, and you see how we… Read More
And do you think some of these experiences, we’re talking about a lot of other things, but some of those experiences early on in your career were preparing, even though you weren’t thinking about it, were preparing you to be a zoo director?… Read More
Oh, there’s no doubt about the experiences I was experiencing came back so critical for me being a zoo director. There’s no doubt about, I didn’t know it at the time. Read More
Well, you had fun there didn’t you?… Read More
you fed peanuts to the chimps. You sometimes made funny signs to the animals and that kind of thing, at least the public did. Me, I just was fascinated by looking at the animals. And so, you know that changed my life. I said, I’m gonna be a zookeeper. I… Read More
Like Tom Stalph, he’s like seasoned executive officer, president, zoo director, all in one big old title, across a piece of paper. You’re my age, You know what I’m talking about. Zoo Director, Assistant Zoo Director, Chief Curator, Curator, First Keeper One, First Keeper Two, and ever down. And then… Read More
I took his knife, I was going backwards with it. I don’t know, I just, I was fascinated by the pets, and sure some people had pet birds and stuff like that. And that was, or a snake or something, that was really rare back then, but they did do… Read More
Did I know the difference in caging and moats?… Read More
Not really. Most of us didn’t by the way. As I tell people, by the way, most zoos in this country in 1950s, 60s, even early 70s, should’ve been shut down back then. And I’ll go in later about why today is a much different story. And thank God they… Read More
So, my animals, and you know, that’s just kinda how everything started. Let me, you mentioned that you wanted to be, and you had a vision of wanting to be a zookeeper, an animal keeper. Read More
And why did you want to be an animal keeper?… Read More