“Get rid of the zoo director, bring the monkey show back.” But the commission threw that petition away and stuck with me and people began falling in love with the Jungle of the Apes watchin’ baby orangutans being born, watchin’ chimps being born, watchin’ baby gorillas being born. So today,… Read More
The stingray touch tank. Read More
You said you helped phase them out when you were deputy director or director?… Read More
As I was deputy director and director during that time. It happened a little bit at a time to phase them out. It became difficult getting chimps because they were now endangered. We wanted a new exhibit. I have to say the cat collection was phased out first. That was… Read More
That was 1975. It took us a little longer to phase out the chimp show, but we couldn’t get any more chimps. One year under Schultz, we had to bring in a private act. We had a guy named Lil’ brought in from California with four chimps for a couple… Read More
The concept of animals breeding in captivity and maintaining our population in captivity but also exhibiting ’em in more dignity in a natural environment. I had that opportunity to play a role of phasing the St. Louis Zoo out of show business. We also had more money from the Zoo… Read More
We took one of our show elephant. First we tried artificial insemination. We weren’t successful. We sent two of our cows to Kansas City, actually three of our cows to Kansas City for a honeymoon with the male that they had. And as a result of that, we had a… Read More
So now we have elephants in a natural environment. Baby in a natural manner in a beautiful environment and we’re educating the public. These elephants, chimpanzees and lions are ambassadors of the animals in the wild. We try to tell as much of a conservation story we can to make… Read More
Were you able to make changes?… Read More
How was the zoo changing at this time?… Read More
‘Cause you were the deputy director and kinda runnin’ everything, were you sayin’ to people, “Here’s what we’re gonna do”?… Read More
Durin’ this time of both Bob Briggs and Dick Schultz, I had the opportunity to be part of changing zoo philosophy. Up until that time, up until the late ’60s, early ’70s, the St. Louis Zoo was famous for the animal shows. Chimpanzee show was the most popular show anywhere,… Read More
Right. Bit of a conflict. Well when he was 65, they made him retire. He did not retire. He thought he would work until he was 70. Read More
So he was?… Read More
He sorta tolerated me. I guess he had a feeling he’d have a hard time firing me. Okay. Read More
And so in the beginning, he needed me. He treated me very well. But towards the end, he began resenting me. He kept encouraging me to find another zoo. He thought I oughta be a director of a smaller zoo somewhere and he kept encouraging me to apply. But I… Read More
And you have people on the board who are supporters of yours who are saying what, “Hang in there ’cause you’re gonna be the guy”?… Read More
By then, I had a pretty well-rounded background. I also bought the textbooks. Ornithology, mammalogy textbooks so that I was educating myself to the disciplines that I did not have the opportunity to study in college. Read More
What was your relationship with Schultz?… Read More
In the beginning, he needed me very badly ’cause he knew absolutely nothing about animals. But as his five-year term that he reigned. You know, we went to AZA meetings and nobody would have anything to do with him. They didn’t like him, so I would be trying to introduce… Read More