Well I think zoos should do both. I don’t think every zoo has to have elephants. But I think if the zoo does have elephants and choose to have elephants, then they should give ’em the largest holding area that they can and that they should participate in a national… Read More
What’s your view regarding zoos maintaining elephants and how it should be done correctly, if possible?… Read More
And the second part of that is zoos spend multi-millions, tens of millions of dollars on some of these elephant exhibits. Read More
Is it worthwhile to do that?… Read More
Should it be just regional or should it be endangered or should just be holding species that are endangered but can’t breed for SSP or should they have the same kinda collection philosophy as has a large?… Read More
I think that each of possibilities would be suitable for any one zoo. A small zoo like the Arizona Desert Museum is exhibiting animals only of the Sonoran Desert from Arizona and Mexico, no place else. It doesn’t have worldwide collection. The Topeka Zoo is really a small zoo, yet… Read More
Is education doing any good particularly in boosting the images zoos among the public in the face of anti-zoo groups?… Read More
Well in St. Louis, the anti-zoo group is invisible. It’s not there. So I can’t speak from a national level. Because in St. Louis, we’re not exposed to it. It’s not a problem whatsoever. You talked about individual animals but elephants. Read More
How effective are they?… Read More
Well they are very effective at the gate. We brought in a white tiger one time from the National Zoo and we had a big, big attendance increase. We brought it in during the slow time of the year. We brought in a white alligator one time. That was a… Read More
When you have these small and these mediums zoos, should there be a focus of collection for these small and medium zoos?… Read More
Well I’d like to see ’em do more for saving habitat and the Indigenous people that live within the habitat where species are most at risk. But with the political situation internationally, it’s right now pretty grim. We gotta solve some social problems of the world. I don’t know how… Read More
How effective do you think temporary exhibits are?… Read More
I know that there are some zoos that have the World of Frogs and it’s a temporary exhibit or the World of Seahorses or things like that. Read More
Were there things that were no big concerns during your career that you had to deal with, whether they were within your zoo or nationally?… Read More
I can’t think of any. Read More
What issues would you like to see zoos in general address in the future?… Read More
What changes have you seen during your years in the zoo field regarding visitor attitudes and administration at the national level?… Read More
In the last 20 years, 30 years, I think our visitors to the zoo have become more sophisticated. In fact, when I started in 1963, we were told write, sign, copy to appeal to a six year old ’cause that’s what the adult average mentality would be. But in fact,… Read More
What issues caused you the most concern during your career and how do you see the future regarding those concerns or are they been taken care of?… Read More