Somebody was studying quaker parakeets. Somebody was studying flower beetles. Somebody was studying tree growth. It was a wonderful collaboration. We were all in the same lab. And I would use my free time, and I worked for that three years. I essentially worked every weekend and every holiday with… Read More
It was just one of those things that we didn’t really negotiate. It was just one of those things that worked out. Les said you gotta do your job, I did my job. Les said, you can’t have the time, I had the time. So I used my time, it… Read More
And he says, you got any interest in doing a PhD?… Read More
And he says, you know, you can pick your topic and you can, I don’t know, you can do whatever you want. He said, it won’t cost you anything, he said, but it will be a huge benefit to me because it’s a kudo for me, it’s stripes on my… Read More
So instead of spending five years or spending seven years as most do, because I had a head start on it, and because I had an empathetic ecologist advisor at the university, he and I agreed to three years. And at the end of three years, my field work would… Read More
When at what time in your professional career, did you begin your association with DePaul University?… Read More
Was it during this time as assistant director or did it come later?… Read More
My association with DePaul University kind of was a fortuitous. When I went back to get my PhD, I went back because it was a unique opportunity. A guy I’d gone to high school with, played basketball with during high school was the then who was a PhD, was the… Read More
And we did that and it was launched. It actually was launched at the Chicago annual meeting here in Chicago at the annual meeting, AZA meeting. And I’ll never forget Bill Conway saying, as we sat in skull sessions, the original name, the original name was going to be the… Read More
At times now in your new, well, in the position of assistant director, were there animals that you said, I wanna get involved with this, we’re not doing anything with, whether it be conservation or personal interest or, you know, knowledge of that they needed more information about them. Were… Read More
So we took it on as a kind of institutional interest group. And we worked with others around the country particularly with the national zoo and others to develop the collection, to publish, to share information and to share animals so that it no longer was just Lincoln Park doing… Read More
And can you kind of talk about it if you can, about animals and zoos and conservation and species survival, was there an arc there?… Read More
And so what was it?… Read More
Well, the species survival plan came out of, came out of, a species survival plan was AZA’s first organized conservation effort. And it was mandated by the outgoing president, Ed Murrow Scott. He said, zoos need to do something for conservation. We need a plan, we need a species list. Read More
Did you then, or only when you became associated with AZA at national level?… Read More
I think the benefits, I believe the benefits of the then AZA were different than the benefits of the now AZA. The benefits then were that you were all in a common, you all had those similar problems. You all were in it together, you took care of each other. Read More
And when the AZA changed from being a profession, to being an industry, a lot of things changed. And one of those was, you take care of me, I’ll take care of you, your word is your bond. And we worked collaboratively and cooperatively to a common good. I think… Read More
It needed to do something about the Mexican Wolf and increasing numbers of Mexican wolves. And the animals were essentially going extinct in the wild. They had to rely on captive reproduction as they have, since then till now, to bolster populations. And so I convince the AZA board that… Read More
He showed up in spurs and boots and worn jeans and a flannel shirt and a cowboy hat. And it was a this and that and it was a char tobacco, but there was nobody alive who could catch wild animals like Roy could catch, because he had like 20… Read More
And after that first meeting, I didn’t have to worry about funding ’cause I was part of the team. So this association with AZA had its benefits for the conservation. Read More