They have to be viewed as living documents. They’re subject to change, they’re subject to availability. They’re subject to the vagaries of animal availabilities. They’re subject to changing values and changing more it says as evidenced, both by elephants and by killer whales. And you said elephants to other questions,… Read More
Is there any benefits to having such shows?… Read More
Do you have any feelings about it from the conservation or from an education point of view?… Read More
The expenses related to elephants, at all levels, but particularly the amount of space and equipment and design that goes into it, first of all, to allow them to have adequate space and to allow adequate stimulus, it’s justified if the institution and its deciding board have said, this is… Read More
What’s the positives and negatives of the collection plan?… Read More
Well, a collection plan essentially gets buy in from the institution that this is the direction that we’re going to go with our collection. We’re going to have birds, mammals, reptiles, and all of those birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians. There’s going to be representatives of whatever the examples turn out… Read More
Or what do you think the response should be?… Read More
Those sorts of things, to get some feel for the individuals. And as long as we’re talking about the curatorial level, we have to also talk about the veterinary aspect. And the same is true with zoo vets. There are a lot of zoo vets around, a huge number of… Read More
I think the idea of consolidating elephant members into small groups or into family groups and having zoos specialize in that species, I think that’s a really good idea. It enriches the animal’s lives. It puts the focus to those institutions that can afford to do that. It exhibits the… Read More
And in all honesty, in all honesty I would have, and a lot of other people would have, a great deal of difficulty identifying six, let alone more, individuals in the profession in that age group, who had the same kinds of skills, the skill sets that were present in… Read More
So if you’re interviewing an individual for curatorial position, what three things would you wanna see in that person, man or woman?… Read More
You look at their academics, you look at their past experience, you look at where their interests are. You look at what they’ve done outside of the zoo world. Read More
You look at where they worked and who they worked for, and you provide them with an opportunity to share with you, answers or responses to what if scenarios, if you were put in this position with these animals, what would you do?… Read More
I think all zoos should participate in cooperative programs as designated by conservation authorities. The role of the modern zoo is not so much the propagation of animals about the holding of animals that may be needed in the future for propagation. So while we always thought that everybody had… Read More
Are there things and standards that curators should have maybe before they get to be a curator, should they go through some apprenticeship?… Read More
Or is it just as easy to say once you have a master’s or PhD, you’re certainly qualified. That’s a very good question about what’s the future. What’s the future in terms of animal management, particularly at the curatorial level, it’s a very good query indeed. If there’s anything in… Read More
And we’ll raise them up to the time that they’re somewhere between two and three years old. And then we’ll give them back to you and you can turn them loose in the wild, and we’ll do this without much human interference. So that they’re essentially raised in large tubs… Read More
You can go regional and identify where the needs are and what kind of contribution you can make. Green snakes are disappearing in the Midwest. There’s a propagation program for green snakes. Massasauga rattlesnakes, the smallest of the rattlesnakes, which are here in this area are off towards wheeling that… Read More
Should all zoos be striving to breed animals?… Read More
And every time that we decided that we should intervene, it was a correct decision. And so I think it’s better to do something than to do nothing at all, that stuck with me. And to this day, as I’m out doing things in nature, if I think I should… Read More