Not so much stated goals or list of goals or something put on paper, but rather philosophical goals, attitudinal goals about how to treat the collection, how personnel would treat it, how people needed to be treated as individuals, how we could make the zoo a more inviting place to… Read More
Did he understand what you were going to want to try and do, or was he telling you what he needed for you to do in this new position?… Read More
Tell us about, you know, how that transpired and why did you decide to apply for the position and were you just the choice automatically, or were there other people within the zoo that wanted it or internationally that wanted it?… Read More
When the then assistant director went on to become director at another zoo, the position opened. And I don’t, as I look back on it, I really don’t know how it all happened. I don’t think I was the heir apparent. I think there were certainly would be interest from… Read More
I’m glad I had the opportunity, but it did, as I alluded to earlier, it brought me one step further removed from the things that were most important to me, at least in the early part of my career. And I had to make that conscious decision about would this… Read More
What were you thinking though, when you said I could improve?… Read More
Can you kind of tell me what you meant by that?… Read More
It was a golden age, at like in part, because we had the degree of freedom that we had. It was a golden age at Lincoln Park because there was, there essentially was no animal anywhere in the world that we couldn’t acquire if we could make the contacts. It… Read More
And again, I go back to the, your word is your bond. If they said they were going to do something for you, they did it for you. If they said I have this and it should go to you, and this is what his condition is, that’s, those were… Read More
Were there situations that you can tell us about that you might’ve learned something new on the job that you did not know before?… Read More
Well- I learned from the first weekend that I was on with the camel, that you have to be very quick to grab a baby camel because adult camels can kick both rear legs off the ground at the same time, and you have to be away from them. I… Read More
You had just raked it so that you looked like it was clean. There were all kinds of little tricks that I learned from my comrades. And you had indicated and said at one time that you felt you worked at Lincoln Park Zoo, move on word, but that you… Read More
Well, it came from the top down, but it came from the top down largely because there was pressure by the National Association of Zoos and Aquariums to formalize policies and procedures within zoos and aquariums and wildlife parks. And so the edict would come from AAZPA, now AZA, and… Read More
Your relationship stayed the same?… Read More
I think so, I think my relationship didn’t, I don’t think there was any, there’s no, in my recollection, there’s no visible change in relationships with a change in hierarchy. Actually the departure of the assistant director and the hiring of a new person as a general curator/ assistant director… Read More
And then during this time, were you helping or were there new policies that were being, as the zoo’s growing, put forth at the Lincoln Park Zoo?… Read More
And what kind of say did you have as a curator in that?… Read More
Well, with the growth of professionalism, everything became the written word, the printed word. And so there had to be a collection policy. There had to be euthanasia policy. There had to be a formalization of the processes for record keepers, for a record keeper. They had to be all… Read More
Was this something came from the top down to you to say, take care of it, or were you making recommendations to the higher ups to say, we need to get some of this stuff in?… Read More
I think if I relied on anybody for insight in the animal world, it was probably Jim Dolan in San Diego. He was probably my go-to guy. Read More