Well, at the same time, I was a assistant, scientific assistant at the university because Heini Hediger had a university department on animal psychology at Zurich Zoo, so I kept these two positions. And I changed position only after retirement of Heini, in 1974, when I became a curator of… Read More
What were his strong points?… Read More
What were his weak points that you saw?… Read More
He was a very noble person, rather a shy person, and he esteemed animals in his way. “The love for animals”, he always said, “is not the care of animals, “but to understand animals and to recognize animals “as their own personality.” So somebody not knowing him would have thought… Read More
What kind of a zoo director did you find him?… Read More
I mean, you said he was your hero. Read More
Did he mentor you?… Read More
Well at that time?… Read More
Heini Hediger, of course, was my hero up there. And he learned to know me more in detail in August 1959, when two kea parrots from New Zealand escaped. And at that time, kea parrots were a rarity. And we lured them back into their aviary with the help of… Read More
The keepers knew me very well. They called me with my first name and I called them with their family name. And I think I was accepted by the whole zoo staff, yes. Read More
And what was your relation with the director?… Read More
He hired you?… Read More
Did you interact with the staff as this part-time registrar?… Read More
At that time in Zurich Zoo, there was just one curator for the aquarium and terrarium. That was Rene Honecker, who was a very good friend of mine, and I worked in his office. So we had almost daily contact, not only at the zoo, but private as well. Read More
And because you had worked as the keeper before that, as a volunteer, did the keepers then know who you were and accept you?… Read More
At that time in Europe, the position of registrar didn’t exist, as the animal records were kept by the curators. Which in some ways I think it’s not too bad because the curators work daily with the animals, make a lot of personal observations that can be included into the… Read More
So you, what was the day like?… Read More
Did you interact with the curators?… Read More
And what was your first position?… Read More
My first position was, at that time, this name didn’t exist, but nowadays it’s a registrar. And Heini Hediger told me, I cannot pay you more than a cleaning woman. And he paid me, or Zurich Zoo paid me 50 Swiss francs a month. It was not the full-time position,… Read More