(chuckles) Again, the involvement with elephants started with a case. And that case was a young elephant that was brought to the university, to veterinary school, and I was put in charge of it. And I actually developed or diagnosed ascorbic acid deficiency, which is vitamin C. And it turns… Read More
We had two elephants of the Sacramento Zoo, so I had a lot of experience with them, good experiences, they were good elephants, well-trained elephants under free contact. Got spoiled relative to that. I’ve subsequently of when I, at one time looked at the case records of animals that I… Read More
How many circuses, you’ve worked for really have you worked for other circuses?… Read More
Over the years, I’ve worked for maybe three or four different ones, some of which I can’t even name right now, but size, one of the most controversial situations right now relative to elephants, is a company called Have Trunk Will Travel. And I know the Johnsons, I know them… Read More
And Gary or Gary’s dad said, “I’ll take it.” And we tried to rehabilitate it. And it became a usable animal. And in fact, it’s still in use in Europe, it’s been used in circuses over there. Read More
So how did you begin working with elephants?… Read More
I think that the relationship of zoos and circuses, and I appreciate the fact that there are challenges associated with it. I believe that it’s, again, an appreciation for a slightly different approach to medicine. For instance, in elephants, the use of a no contact or protected contact is con… Read More
I really hate to see that situation. The same thing exists with zoos and free ranging wild animals. There’s a conflict there ideologically and philosophically, but by the same token, they need to utilize what’s known in the captive situation to learn more about the wild situation and vice versa. Read More
But there’s a need for both, and we’ve just got to understand each other. Read More
Bill Lindsey invited me to do consulting work with him, and I was just willing to respond first to their calls and then become part of actually their team. And that was a satisfying work, we conducted some elephant schools for veterinarians and others that I was involved with. I… Read More
Dennis Schmidt, who is a reproduction specialist, is now kind of the head of their research program. He’s a university veterinarian for all kinds of domestic large animals. And there’s much that he has taught us. And he’s gone all over the world to learn new techniques for working with… Read More
How do you feel about circuses and their use of wild animals, and let me go a step further, this relationship with the zoological field?… Read More
Well, we didn’t have a canteen with us, there was no water around, we were in a desert area. And I said, “Will you accept artificial respiration if I have to give it to you?” And he said, yeah. And yet we thought about water source and we didn’t have… Read More
As a side, how did you get connected with circus and the Ringling brothers show?… Read More
I have been associated with circuses fairly early on in my career at the university when I was in a horse practice, because circuses would come to the university with their animals when they were in town. And again, I showed interest in some of these critters, so that I… Read More
And you couldn’t catch me up on a top of a six foot stepladder otherwise. But the point is we got the animal anesthetized, the helicopter, and with us in it landed, we did the physical examination and we put it in a sling. And we were going to attach… Read More
And he looked at me and says, “You have the antidote, don’t you Murray?” I says, “Don’t you bud?” And neither one of us had the antidote, and that’s a no-no in a mobilization, is not to keep the antidote with the active agent. Read More
And what were we gonna do?… Read More
In fact, the best thing I think that they can do is to do a internship, or work for a good small animal practice or a good mixed animal practice before they have delve into zoo animals. ‘Cause you don’t have the numbers of cases. Somebody may agonize over lancing… Read More
Were there any things that caught you off guard at the zoo that you weren’t expecting?… Read More