Look at, zoos don’t have to, you don’t have to judge the zoo by the size, by the way. Some of you be, oh my God, my zoo’s 800 acres, my zoo’s this. Oh the wilds is 10,000, whatever. I don’t judge, when I go to zoos, help zoos, I… Read More
You know, let me tell you one quick story. I know we’re running behind, but I have to tell this story, because this is why I work here. About six months ago, a lot of kids with special wishes come here, and people with last wishes come here. If you… Read More
She said, “but all she wants to do is meet you “and maybe see one of your animals.” They came from a, like, I don’t know if it was Kansas, or where it was, flew in here. She came up here, she was in a wheelchair, this little girl. Her… Read More
You can’t get accredited unless you take care of your frigging zoo, and it’s still, I’m sorry, a few zoos today just ain’t getting it, because they’re not doing any better. And even some of them, I can’t go back to anymore. I’ll have a zoo once, twice, but the… Read More
Most incredible zoo. Fort Wayne, you saw Fort Wayne Zoo. Unbelievable. You don’t have to be, you don’t have to be 40 acres. You don’t have to be 10 acres. Zoo people need to know this. You don’t have to be like the Columbus Zoo, 600 acres. Look at Lincoln… Read More
If you’re a tackle, you tack, you, I’m sorry, an offensive tackle or guard, you block the guy in front of you first. If you get him, then you go help with the other guy. Read More
So what do you do in the zoo world?… Read More
You darn well better take care of your community and your zoo first then yes, you have the AZA that you have to appoint to. Some people reverse that whole thing. I mean, very few, but some of them get all confused. We gotta live, Mr. Board, and Miss and… Read More
Also as zoo director, don’t forget who your people are. Don’t forget something. And again, no one respects the AZA more than Jack Hanna, nobody. Remember something, you don’t work for the AZA, you don’t work for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. You work for the people that pay… Read More
And that’s fine. But by golly, when you have taxpayers paying their hard-earned money for you, then you do what you do. But you obviously have to be like a, you’re a dentist, your American Dental Association, you’re lawyer, Bank and Barr Association. That’s not rocket science, but I see… Read More
You know what I did?… Read More
I just bought into 10, 12 brands of hot dogs. I made everybody eat a hot dog. So then they all had part of eating a hot dog, you know, that’s the kind of minor stuff we did then. Going from a, going from a, hold a minute, going from… Read More
How in the world, you guys doing this stuff?… Read More
Because we all work together. We all listen. The city Columbus never interferes. The mayor gets to appoint his people. There were three county commissions appoint their people, ’cause it’s all, now the county’s bought all this land around here next to the city land. Now it’s all one big… Read More
If somebody’s not there, they’re either sick, ’cause they have a ball at our meetings, and we make it that way. By the way, make your meetings short. Don’t make your meeting where, I’ve used to this place, we had nothing to discuss. “What kind of hot dogs you serving… Read More
We have 18 careers here. Some people that come in the zoo and start in these careers, they were so good, they worked there long enough, and then they get out and start branching out in other careers. And other careers, golly day, Don Wentzel here, who was head of… Read More
Yes, you have a board, have a good board. That’s a critical thing. Here at Columbus, until recently we have, what I call the golden triangle until about six months ago, we still have it, by the way, but we have to get those little hiccup here. We have a… Read More
And people come here from all over the place. Read More
I mean, he gave everybody in the zoo. I’d done that before, but not to the extent he did. Every division in the zoo. Plus every zoo director should remember something. There are about, in our zoo, 18 careers here, 18 careers. We’re talking about veterinarians, the curator division, the… Read More
“Even though I’m majored in this, that I can’t work there.” Oh, you can’t work there?… Read More