I’m not that dumb, okay. And I’m gonna probably mentioned some names here, that that’s fine, the guys can watch it. I don’t care, really care, because these are also friends of mine that I think did this. So I had the letter from Bob. I don’t even remember who… Read More
1492 I got Columbus, Columbus, Ohio 1492, 500 years, right?… Read More
And every zoo can be that way, I guarantee you, every zoo. Look at new Orleans, look at Brookfield Lincoln park. Look at, I could go on and on for you. And then, also, now I won’t name the other zoos you look at because no one’s gonna give you… Read More
Okay, (laughs) I figured that’d come up. The panda incident. That hurt me probably more than most people imagine. Not hurt me because I’m a baby. It’s because I had in writing, by the way, from Bob Wagner, and Bob was a friend of mine, yes, but Bob was also… Read More
Sewers and Drains, okay?… Read More
Nobody would talk to you. You couldn’t even get somebody to pick up trash. Today you wear a Columbus Zoo uniform to store, ask anyone here, they get stopped 10 times in that grocery store. “How’d you get a job at the Columbus Zoo?” “My kids want to go to… Read More
But that’s how proud, I’m so proud of these people when they wear these clothes now, that you don’t know. I love going, and when I’ve got my little ball hat in Montana, I don’t look like Jack Hanna, I don’t shave or nothing, anything like that. And I have… Read More
This is like the first time when I go on Letterman. It’s like the first time. It’s the first time, even though I’ve done it, hundreds of times. And when I do my speeches, like I did last week, four cities, I’m sorry, three states in six days. And boy,… Read More
When you’ve got your visitor paying their $10, $5, 20, 30, 40, $50, whatever. You just, I know I’m rattling on here. I’m just trying to tell you the things that I’ve learned over the years to make your zoo successful. Be yourself. Make sure that it’s, oh yeah, the… Read More
You’re on stage with your uniform that says Columbus Zoo. That means that you have to act like it’s the first time you’ve ever been out there. I do 80 to a hundred speeches a year. I do all these shows. It’s difficult sometimes to go in there, like it’s… Read More
You see how all fired up I am all the time. Yes, I may kick the bucket tomorrow, but I get fired up because of what I believe in. You have to remember something. It’s the first time maybe they ever came to your zoo. The first time they maybe… Read More
I say, “Tom, I’m not tattling on anybody. “I’m just trying to help the people.” And sure enough, he doesn’t even get mad. He just goes his nice way. How’s, that’s why Tom’s here, he’s like a godsend to me, right. It’s like the Lord provided me Tom Stalf. I… Read More
I told him the very same story. I’ve had, but I’ve gone through not one, not two, at least several dozen of these kids have passed on, but they spent their life, not because of me. They sit there and got to hold a penguin, smile for the probably the… Read More
You don’t think that’s powerful of what we do?… Read More
Now I encourage every zoo director. Remember that when you’re in this business. Go to your front gate and watch who comes in your gate, watch the joy on their faces, watch, you don’t even have to question them when they left your zoo. I know when people leave here,… Read More
I mean, that’s powerful. She died eight days later and that’s, that’s the epitome of what I do. Of what I brought the joy. I get emotional right now. That’s the epitome of what anybody could do. As far as what I’m concerned, you’ve, I don’t know if I’ve already… Read More
What’s the most incredible thing you remember, Jack, at the zoo all your life?… Read More
Then I let her hold a, held the penguin for her. So I went to wash your hands cause she was gonna hold a baby cat. I think it was a little serval. I was gonna wash your hands, her father looked, his, that father looked at me and goes,… Read More
I mean, a father was telling me the good Lord will wash her hands?… Read More
He didn’t want our hands washed?… Read More