Interview 8364 – Caption Index: 530
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
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
What kind of tools, ’cause talk about that, what kind of tools were you using to assess that community?… Read More
What would I say to them?… Read More
Mm-hmm. Well, they really don’t know the zoo and they ought to investigate further and see if they can’t get someone to come down and visit with them and tell them what the zoos really do. Read More
What changes have you seen during your years in the zoo field regarding visitor attitudes and at either at your local zoo or as you have gone around the national level?… Read More
Well, visitor attitudes have gotten more complex I think. Some see the zoo as a good community effort, others see it in a different manner, some have an attitude that they shouldn’t be there, they’re costing money for the community. Maybe they don’t even know that the city doesn’t provide… Read More
What would you say to people who still believe that zoos are nothing more than places where they cage animals?… Read More
Well, the first thing comes to mind is confront them, but do it in such a manner that you know what you’re doing. You’re not waving your arms and asking for a fight. You pick your battles and you pick your battles in a certain way. First of all, if… Read More
You had mentioned some, are there qualities, top qualities, maybe three that you would wanna see in a curator?… Read More
I think one of them was caring about the animals. Yes. I think qualities that a curator should have, well, of course he has to have the education to be a good curator, but again, I get so tired of telling everybody, oh boy, you have to have an education. Read More
Should every zoo strive to do breeding programs?… Read More
I think everyone has to. All zoos have to have some program that has to do with reproduction of certain species, whether it’s in the native area where the animal’s from or in the zoo itself. Because you said that each zoo has to do what they must do, and… Read More
We kind of touched on it a bit, but zoos, in many cases, they’re afraid to confront animal rights, animal welfare groups that are anti-zoo. Read More
Can you give us your thoughts on how business can deal with these types of groups?… Read More
Can they do things to help wildlife internationally or nationally?… Read More