Interview 30880 – Caption Index: 77
What value would you say your school in New Jersey gave you?… Read More
What value would you say your school in New Jersey gave you?… Read More
What feeling? Oh, Well, what value would you say this professional growth gave you and why was it important and to your professional growth?… Read More
There were a couple. There was a lady who had a private collection of cheetahs and was breeding cheetahs up, up in Northwest United States. A couple other students from the United States. A young man who was like 18, who was heading off to college and became a professor… Read More
So, yeah. Or was he Canadian?… Read More
But there were, there were United States people. Yeah. Read More
Gerald Durrell was, he was God. Okay. And I, and this was his zoo. He wasn’t there at the time, sadly. But I got to go to the famous Jersey Wildlife Reservation Trust and learn and meet people from around the world, from Denmark and Mexico, Mauritius. There was an… Read More
Were there any people aside from you, from the United States?… Read More
You know, I had read for years about Gerald Durrell and the Jersey Zoo. Then I saw somewhere advertised that they were doing a summer school on Jersey for zoo professionals and people interested in breeding, you know, an endangered species management. So I applied and they accepted me. I… Read More
How does this come about?… Read More
Yes it was. He didn’t wanna have anything to do with any of that. He knew it had to happen, but he didn’t wanna do it. And so, and he wanted to punish me and take me away from all the animal responsibilities. It’s like, well, I wanted to be… Read More
I worked with the Zol Lounge ’cause design ladies, we had an event called Zari, which was a, which was the dinner in the zoo. Steaks cooked on the grill and corn on the cob. And we had carriage rides through the zoo. It was a very high end thing… Read More
’cause they wanted to help do fundraising for the zoo. And he needed somebody to organize special events at the zoo. So, sadly, everything that I loved at the zoo got taken away from me. And I got taken away from being an hourly person to be a salaried person. Read More
And how did that happen?… Read More
I, you know, a little bit of both. You know, I was just ecstatic to be there with the animals and doing that work. And I felt responsible. Doing that and being responsible was really important to me. But I, yeah, I started forming a philosophy about zoos should be… Read More
The, the assistant, the other assistant zoo director retired. And she kind of did different things. But the, the zoo director needed somebody to handle that zoological society, those rich ladies. Okay. Because we had a group of citizens who wanted to support the zoo. And the last thing he… Read More
So, at that time, are you starting in any way to form a philosophy about zoos?… Read More
Again, just kept pushing it, kept being there, kept doing it. Keep getting more responsibility. Just, I just was very persistent. Just wanted to keep doing it. I wanted to do it better. I just wanted to keep doing things better. Read More
Or you’re just happy to be there?… Read More
In 1979, you become head keeper. How did that occur?… Read More
Yep, yep, yep. I got, I was assigned the newest building, the Clark Allison Mezo Animal Kingdom Building or something like that. Had indoor exhibits and things like that. That was my supervisory responsibility. And we had aquariums to, to take care of and things like that. It was a… Read More