And it seems like a really interesting idea that you obviously and San Antonio have done, why hasn’t AAZA embraced that theory of using the ranchers more for a variety of hoofstock, which is declining in zoos today?… Read More
Why hasn’t it been and what’s your opinion about why it hasn’t been as embraced as the San Antonio Zoos has done?… Read More
How did their involvement help manage larger populations of hoofstock that might not have been able to do well in this traditional zoo setting?… Read More
If a rancher has the wherewithal and the space, and they’re willing to commit at least a section of land to one species or more, I think it’s one of the greatest opportunities for zoos today to get involved with that rancher, with agreement that the rancher will get something… Read More
Isn’t it true with a lot of other animals that we don’t have enough?… Read More
Was this the type of program that you initiated in 1970 with the blackbuck antelope?… Read More
Blackbuck antelope we did, blackbuck antelope in Texas are called Texotics. There’s so many of them all over Texas that people don’t even look at them like they’re exotic anymore. The same with axis deer and nilgai. I remember one time someone telling me that the King Ranch had 1500… Read More
If they had a national park where they could be put safely, we could do that. And so we gathered the zoo, the staff gathered whatever the ranchers wanna donate in blackbuck specimens. And we brought them to the zoo and we held them at the zoo, built crates for… Read More
And the last time I got any word from that reserve, they had done quite nicely there. Since we’ve kind of started talking about this, how ranchers got involved in this exotic, let’s talk a little about the role of ranch. Read More
And that’s how it all got started. Fred convinced them that he could bring them into the zoo from the wild, but they couldn’t by law. So he would do that, provided that they would pay for all the costs involved, and then he would share, to replace those animals,… Read More
And I continued that as I saw that I could, I bought more species and increased the numbers considerably. And I looked at it in terms of minimum for any new species of antelopes, two males, three females minimum. And if I could handle that in costs, then I could… Read More
And I ensured that they wouldn’t be injured so much by not having too much space. Its like, we all know that if you ship an antelope in a crate, you don’t give them a lot of space because they’ll only batter themselves up. So, you restrict their movement comfort,… Read More
Was it successful when you first got there because it had started, but what was your vision to keep it kind of continuing?… Read More
When I arrived in San Antonio in 1968, it was just about a year after Fred Stark had made some agreements with some ranchers to pay for his collecting some antelopes through dealers from Africa, especially. Read More
The ranchers had been to Africa, hunting and been there on safari for various reasons and enjoyed them and always felt like, wouldn’t it be great if I had some of those on the ranch where I could go on weekends and take a look at these wonderful animals right… Read More
Oh, it’s very important in San Antonio for people to be able to see whooping cranes, because for half the year, we have them down there on the coastline and they are big business for the vendors and so on with boats who take people out to look at them… Read More
Why was this collection successful and what do you think contributed to its success?… Read More
But they were from fertile eggs taken from San Antonio. Read More
Were birds brought back to the wild then from these hatchings?… Read More
They were returned to the wild as far as I know, but not to San Antonio, not to the San Antonio Zoo. Read More