I have friends who won’t even look at a snake and it just bothers me that they can’t understand that this is just another animal that you should know something about. Now, when you talk about signs, we’re now in a more techno age with iPads and all these different… Read More
I can tell you very quickly that the way I see the visitor having a more meaningful visit is the signage and the style we use in presenting that exhibit with a fantastic signage system. And it’s happening in zoos. I’m very impressed with some of the commercial, the companies… Read More
They walked in, the first thing they saw was this gigantic hippo exhibit behind glass with the hippos in it and the fish swimming around in the exhibit. They just were in awe. They turned around and they looked at the reptiles along the wall and they passed it one… Read More
Those animals are so important that they understand that there are these reptiles and amphibians in the world, just as much as when they looked at the hippo, but why aren’t they taking the time to at least read the descriptive information?… Read More
When we talked about visitors and you’re going out and talking to those visitors, asking them questions, what can be done to make the visitor connection more meaningful?… Read More
Is it in exhibitry or programming?… Read More
What can make that connection more meaningful that they wanna come back?… Read More
And I said, what?… Read More
Oh, well you have to do that. And the keepers told me, “Yeah, we have to do that every election day.” And I called them back and I said, “Wait a minute, you want me to send six people down so they can drive people to the polls?” I said,… Read More
But if anything happens, if an animal gets out while they’re gone, I’m gonna tell them, what’s your phone number?… Read More
Let me have your phone number again so I can tell that’s what happened.” And I never heard from him again. And I never ever sent anybody to the polls. Read More
I don’t know how to answer that. We’ve talked about just about everything that I can think of that pertains to the zoo, the collection in any given zoo, the goals and so on. And I think it’s just repetitious to go beyond that. Read More
When you were dealing with the municipal people you had to deal with, whether it was in San Antonio or any of the other zoos, but certainly being in San Antonio for awhile, what was the most effective way that you were able to deal with the bureaucracy and the… Read More
Well, I found it pretty easy because they didn’t know enough about me or the zoo to give me much of a problem. Short of not having money in budget or in the entire community budget, whether it’s city or county, I think the easy thing for them to say,… Read More
Was it the meetings of the groups you attended, like the Rotary and things like that to get the feel of the community and what they were seeking in the zoo?… Read More
Oh yes. I think, again, it’s like going out into the zoo in the late evening, before the visitor has to leave and listening to what they’re saying and whether or not they’re understanding what they just saw as they visited the zoo. Rotarians, I had many Rotarians say, you… Read More
What issues would you like to see zoos address in the future?… Read More
What issues during your time as zoo director concerned you the most?… Read More
Were they animal issues, people issues?… Read More
Hmm, I suppose the greatest concern for the issues have to sort of be split equally between those two items, animal issues and whatever else. Again, we keep coming back to those words, conservation and education. I think now we’re getting to the point where we’re overusing them and forgetting… Read More