Zoo directors, particularly of large zoos have a major job running a big business. And as a result of that, we’re getting non-animal oriented people into the business, and that’s not bad as long as they surround themselves with good people that are animal oriented. And the thing that is… Read More
Is there an advantage or disadvantage to being a veterinarian and being a zoo director or is it just academic doesn’t matter?… Read More
Some of the basic principles are the same, they need to do that general veterinarian medicine first. When I started out, it was all physical restraint. So if they became good veterinarians in general, now the newer things that are necessary for them to become skilled is once they get… Read More
Now you’re looking at this next question, maybe from a distance, but what would you say are the pros and cons of the new wave of the zoo directors?… Read More
A large number have more non-animal related background, such as business administration. Read More
Are we rolling?… Read More
What made you a good veterinarian in your opinion?… Read More
In my opinion. Well, I think the fact that I was interested in all kinds of animals gave me an edge, and I felt that I needed to become first, a good veterinarian, and then somebody later on that branched out to another realm. But I felt that that was… Read More
What skillset qualities does the zoo veterinarian need today as compared to when you started?… Read More
Did you ever handle any high stakes horses?… Read More
Oh yeah, swaps. Actually when I was in practice, we did all kinds of things, and when I was at the university, we were aware of all of the big mucky mucks in the entertainment industry. And I have tickets to any of the big shows there because the owners… Read More
And so I ultimately had to castrate the animal too, but that was just a fly by night on that one. Did the owners is hover over you when you were doing things. No, not really. They were mostly absentee owners so that the animals were… The people that hovered… Read More
Well, the epiphany was of changing from a poor to mediocre student was maturity for one thing. I think that current students, particularly young man start college life with, “I’m gonna party.” They were either more interested in girls or interested in cars, and they literally botchered the first two… Read More
Although I had to work, I was never just I could get any grade I wanted to, I had to work, but I knew how to do that and I did. Read More
Did you ever work in the race industry?… Read More
Yeah, not extensively. And actually it was after I got to the University of California that I started doing race horse work. I was a track veterinarian at the California State Fair for two or three years. And that was an interesting experience. I would sometimes go to the race… Read More
Well, in the university setting, there is a animal use committee and they have to be involved in decisions for research appropriateness, this sort of thing. In most zoos that I dealt with, there may have been a veterinary committee, but we didn’t have one at the Sacramento Zoo for… Read More
How did you remain involved and what did retirement allow you to do freeing you up for those daily things?… Read More
Well, the most important thing that retirement did for me was it did away with having to attend committee meetings so that I could do what I wanted to do, and that was continue being concerned about animals. And I kept those interests going by continuing to read. I was… Read More
What was the epiphany that you knew you needed to move forward?… Read More