Well, the species survival plan came out of, came out of, a species survival plan was AZA’s first organized conservation effort. And it was mandated by the outgoing president, Ed Murrow Scott. He said, zoos need to do something for conservation. We need a plan, we need a species list. Read More
Did you then, or only when you became associated with AZA at national level?… Read More
I think the benefits, I believe the benefits of the then AZA were different than the benefits of the now AZA. The benefits then were that you were all in a common, you all had those similar problems. You all were in it together, you took care of each other. Read More
And when the AZA changed from being a profession, to being an industry, a lot of things changed. And one of those was, you take care of me, I’ll take care of you, your word is your bond. And we worked collaboratively and cooperatively to a common good. I think… Read More
It needed to do something about the Mexican Wolf and increasing numbers of Mexican wolves. And the animals were essentially going extinct in the wild. They had to rely on captive reproduction as they have, since then till now, to bolster populations. And so I convince the AZA board that… Read More
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… Read More
And after that first meeting, I didn’t have to worry about funding ’cause I was part of the team. So this association with AZA had its benefits for the conservation. Read More
Is it at then, do you think members avail themselves of the advantages of being AZA members?… Read More
There actually is some provisioning of lions. There actually are some agreements of, there is so much competition between people who live there and the animals that live there. And I would say that at least during our lifetime, their future is secure in nature. Although it probably wouldn’t be… Read More
You talked about, you had an involvement and we’ll get to it in more detail, but with AZA, how did that involvement first start?… Read More
I think that my involvement with AZA probably started with my volunteering for committee service and their understanding what my philosophy was, as well as what my training had been and my abilities. And it was a question then of taking advantage of resources. If you have volunteers who have… Read More
Was it a successful program?… Read More
Does it continue today?… Read More
Oh, I think that it was one of the most successful programs that we, except for spectacle bears was one of the most successful programs that we took on. We had a long list of cooperators. We produced many offspring. The program was very successful and it was successful for… Read More
What was your role in it?… Read More
These are lions, they seem very common. Well, lions are lions, except today they aren’t as common as they used to be. But Asiatic lions are restricted to a particular forest in the Indian sub-continent. They’re essentially hemmed in on all sides, either by an ocean or by human development… Read More
Their hair coat is a little different. They tend to be thinner, not as heavy, they don’t in nature, they don’t behave as African lions do, but that may have been a function of what human interference was their habitats. And they were viewed as a threat to local communities… Read More
Who wrote this?… Read More
Where did this come from?” And then I put it in the context of where we all were as a staff, and where we all were as a profession, and realized that that was probably one of the most significant, significant activities in terms of animals, it certainly was larger,… Read More
Tell me about it, how did that occur?… Read More