That was the ultimate test in all of that. So, I mean there’s some things that you just have no idea and then you put an engineer on it and while you feel a little bit better, even the engineer goes, I can’t guarantee this, you know, but the glass… Read More
So the 6,000-pound hippo’s gonna push off on the glass like a swimmer does. Yeah. I don’t know how to design that. So we had to get an engineer in to help ’em figure out what the push rate’s gonna be underwater. And that certainly took the project back a… Read More
Well, a lot of filtration people wouldn’t even touch it. But we did our best and they had to add filtration down the road because we didn’t hit the mark. Read More
We said absolutely he’s gonna touch the glass, probably gonna push off on the glass. Read More
But the best one was the glass guy who said, well, so is this hippo gonna touch the glass?… Read More
Is that how it worked out?… Read More
But if there’s an issue anywhere in that process, it goes back up the food chain to Jim and myself. And then we have the referee shirt on and blow the whistle. Oh, I know there’s another one, the hippo exhibit at the zoo. The underwater viewing of the hippo… Read More
You know, just to see. So I would say, you know, those are probably some of my prouder ones and I mean, there’s stuff that I started in San Diego that I was just there in the initial period. It’s already built, and gone now, and somebody else took over. Read More
But proud of the end results of that. Read More
Wow. Well, that’s a very good question. I’m trying to think. We did some, it wasn’t actually a ground-up construction, but we’ve done several renovations of elephant exhibit at ZooTampa. We did a shoebill stork habitat that was not totally ground-up but mostly ground-up. Considering the space we had to… Read More
I always like to go back a year or two after something is built and see how, you know, is that what we envisioned?… Read More
What would you say is the role of conservation breeding zoos relative to other conservation activities?… Read More
I think you’ve got to do both. I don’t know that there’s an equal percentage. I think it just depends on what makes the most sense for the species involved. So, you know, we don’t breed manatees basically ’cause we’re not permitted to, but we wouldn’t breed them anyway ’cause… Read More
What would you say was your proudest animal exhibit achievement and why?… Read More
You gotta be careful with that. Animal encounters. I give them a higher mark than I do shows and animal ambassador encounters because I think it’s again focused on the animal’s natural behavior and its natural history. That’s why you have them do those. There’s no tricks involved, there’s no,… Read More
Because the critics will say, the message that you’re sending is, it’s okay to handle, fill in the blank, whatever animal it is. You don’t wanna encourage that. You don’t want people to go out and buy that animal and have it in their backyard. Yes, you’re right. And we’ve… Read More
They love to be as close as you and I are, but what messages are we sending?… Read More
You know, just because they show up and do their thing doesn’t mean they’re not stressed. So let’s find out where the stresses are, if there are any, maybe there’s some species that shouldn’t be in shows that we’re doing shows with right now because they do get stressed out. Read More
I think the public appreciates it. So I like them. I don’t think you need to get crazy with them. But you know, it’s all about the dwell time. Having people stay at your zoo as long as possible. So sometimes those 20-minute shows make a big difference in keeping… Read More
Animal shows, yeah, I’ll tell you, you definitely need showmanship because they can be deadly boring or disinteresting if the person who’s on stage isn’t good at performing. This was reinforced by the now CEO of ZooTampa who said we need someone with an entertainment background to be on stage… Read More