She had animals. She had a snake. She had a kitten of some sort. I don’t remember, maybe a fennec fox and a llama and she would go to the school. But then she would get out and she’d do a zoo presentation, but then she would give out applications… Read More
Okay, was that when you were director?… Read More
That was when I was zoo director. Education in zoo is based on your experience main element of the zoo. Read More
Why, not the main element?… Read More
I’m sorry?… Read More
Does that ring a bell, kids’ drawer?… Read More
No. That must’ve been Lincoln Park. In your opinion- I did have a drawer in my office where I always kept plush animals and little things. And every time anybody came to the zoo that had children with ’em, I’d open that door and let ’em pick somethin’ out of… Read More
Or were they- Some of ’em were personal pets I took to the zoo with me when I went and some of ’em were that I adopted from zoo animals. But also sometimes I used the baby animals like we had a baby jaguar that I could hold and let… Read More
Full-grown cheetah?… Read More
Oh yeah, full-grown cheetah. We had a full-grown cheetah who was quite gentle. This must’ve been one of the earlier encounters of that kind. It was a earlier hand-raised. It had been hand-raised that Marlin brought to the zoo for such purposes. Read More
What was the kids’ drawer?… Read More
What was the one that you were most proud of?… Read More
Well I would have to say the introduction to reptiles because they all got to hold the boa constrictor and squeal and scream. That was before cameras were really. You know, you didn’t have the cellphone you could take pictures with. So sometimes somebody would have a camera in the… Read More
These weren’t your personal pets, were they now?… Read More
Were you responsible in the education aspect of putting together new programs?… Read More
By then we had programs for first, second and third graders which is basic introduction to animals. Then we had introduction to primates and animal behavior for third to fifth graders. So we became a more sophisticated program working with the curriculum developers at the school so that what we… Read More
What was the most popular one?… Read More
As I became more and more involved in education, it was a one-man department. So I cleaned cages in the morning and the afternoon. Sometimes I would stop at 10:00 and start doin’ the school tours. And then after 2:30 when the school buses left, then I go back and… Read More
And about that time, I was relieved for my keeper duties in the reptile house. But I still kept a working relationship in the reptile house. Maybe there was some prized specimen I still took care of on the side. Maybe these were the reptiles that I used in the… Read More
We did an annual census which was published, the census. That was making sure that we had every animal accounted for by common name and scientific name classified under family. So that kept my fingers in the herpetological aspect of the zoo. Read More