I mean, and so meeting the accreditation standards is, if a guy wants to use it and use it in the right way is good leverage and people, lots of people have used it very beneficially. The downside, the bad side of that is not all, but certainly some, a… Read More
What was, you were around when AZA was part of the parks system, or those, that group, and then when it broke away. Read More
Can you give us a little part of what your recollections are of that evolution of breaking away and how it came about?… Read More
Well, I, you know, I wasn’t really deeply involved with, you know, with AZA. Was a member, but not really deeply involved with AZA, you know, at the time. And of course it was as a member of the parks. (muttering) It was a fairly ineffective organization and, and by… Read More
Well, I think, I think there, there are a couple problems. Part of it is the, the US government, government bureaucracy and the government encroachment and government, you know, mandates and controls and regulations that are, you know, slowly but surely, you know, strangling zoos and causing more and more… Read More
What were some of AZA strengths and weaknesses when you started?… Read More
Well, I think initially, you know, they were a service organization. They supported zoos. Initially. They were a way, they provided the zoos a forum to get together to exchange information, ideas, technology. That was good. And then, you know, then we saw, then we saw the, the, you know,… Read More
Department of Agriculture has always been, as a federal agency, has been pretty benign and, and pretty helpful to zoos. I mean, I don’t really consider Department of Agriculture and their activities to be necessarily detrimental, but, but certainly, certainly interior has been. And, and the fact that sooner or… Read More
What would you say is the largest professional problem facing US zoos today?… Read More
And if you identify what you considered to be, what might zoos be doing to correct the problem, if there is one?… Read More
You know, and basically I got to, you know, I got to start out small and grow, you know, did everything in Columbus and then started in Omaha and grew up with the place. And so, you know, I was director by the time I was 32. (chuckling) And grew… Read More
What skillset or qualities do you think a zoo director needs today as compared to when you started?… Read More
Well, certainly, certainly management and budgetary skills. I think you need people skills. I think, you know, and I, and that’s probably true, no matter what your, you know, your, your discipline is. I’ve come to the conclusion that, that probably people skills are the most important skills that you… Read More
That’s not what made him have the influence he did. His people skills were what, you know, what caused him to have the influence or enabled him to have the influence that he’s had over the zoo world, people skills. Read More
We start out with light that’s fairly high and get progressively darker as you go through so that your eyes adjust. You know, a seven year old, his eyes, their eyes adjust real quick. Some of us old guys, it takes a little bit longer. So you start out with… Read More
And, you know, we got a 70 foot tall cave in there. That’s because, you know, you’re 15 feet below ground. And then we use the, you know, we used 55 feet of the mountain to get 70 feet. So you look up and 70 feet to the top of… Read More
What worked for you and what would you tell zoo vets who want to be directors?… Read More
Yeah, well, in part, I think that is because as I say, you know, if I had say been lucky enough to get the job in St. Louis, it was very little chance I would have ever risen to the point of being a, you know, being a director of… Read More
Called back the next morning, less than 24 hours later, and he said, you know, what does it take to name something like that?… Read More
And I said half, and he said, I might want to name it after my dad. And as it turns out, he didn’t. So it doesn’t have a name on it yet, but it will have one day. And so he gave a $16 1/2 million in less than 24… Read More