Interview 4487 – Caption Index: 0
My name is Dennis Meritt. I was born in Rochester, New York, and it is the 7th of May, 2016. Read More
My name is Dennis Meritt. I was born in Rochester, New York, and it is the 7th of May, 2016. Read More
When were you born, what’s the date of your birth?… Read More
Oh, date of my birth is May 17th, 1940. Read More
To what extent do you continue to be active in the zoological field or the conservation field?… Read More
Well, the only thing I’m doing right now is staying active with the Sahara Conservation Fund started about eight or nine years ago with a group of zoos and scientists that were interested in the Sahara Desert. We became a 501(c)(3) in 2007. And we work in field conservation in… Read More
Do you have something you can tell me if it’s one or two things, your proudest accomplishment?… Read More
I’m a believer in maintaining elephants. I never wanted to maintain them because first of all, they scared the hell out of me. And secondly, I mean, there really aren’t any desert elephants. There are some that cross the Kalahari back and forth across the Kalahari, but I chose to… Read More
What’s reasonable size?… Read More
I don’t know, a couple of acres, two or three acres. I really think we can and I think there are animals who need to move around as much as elephants do in a natural situation that we manage reasonably well. I actually would be far more concerned about whether… Read More
Elephants, I actually think because you can manage them and enrich them, I think you could probably do fine. Read More
But I mean, the reality is I think they could spend less time at some levels trying to help zoo directors and curators micromanage their collection, and probably a whole lot more time yet and I’m not suggesting they’re not doing any, or they’re not, but a whole lot more… Read More
Because collectively it’s our only probable chance, at least making some dents in the money and time and effort that’s being spent in trying to make us be irrelevant in the eyes of the public. So, if they didn’t do anything else but that, I think that would be the… Read More
What is your view if you have one, regarding the topic, hot topic, of zoos maintaining elephants in their collections?… Read More
But I’m not willing to do that and I think most of us in this business are not willing to do that. Not willing to give up. Read More
If you were in charge of the ACA, what would you like to see them doing and addressing?… Read More
Well, see, I may be too realistic to answer that question (laughs). ‘Cause what I’d like them to be doing is probably not doable. Read More
So, then I have to think back to, okay, what could they possibly do that they actually might be able to do?… Read More
I’m exciting people about the animals that they need to save, and I’m trying to help save to the best of my ability. I may not win, but I’m trying to save some stuff that’s really in trouble right now. Read More
And I can’t look at, can I really win?… Read More
Because if I look at can I really win, I might get pretty pessimistic and go, what’s the point?… Read More