Well, when I first came to Topeka, animal handling was more cowboy slash farm techniques than sometimes thinking about it or preparing the animal for it. And it was a lot of, the old days, you would push or prod, or use a hose or whatever. Instead of, for example,… Read More
So this was a new thing for a lot of the old timers at the zoo at the time. So we tried to incorporate a little more management practices. I mentioned the Sedgwick County tiger, which Ron Blakely is having us hold until he got his new tiger exhibit done. Read More
A plain opossum. Read More
So do you think this love of animals prepared you for your zoo profession ultimately?… Read More
Yes, when I was a youngster, the animal kingdom was fascinating to me. And when I was a boy, I wanted to do two things. One was work in a zoo and other was to go to Africa. But before the thought of working in a zoo entered my mind,… Read More
So I used to go to the Kansas City Zoo and knew all these animals even before I worked there and it was just, it’s the greatest thing in the world. (chuckles) When you became a zoo director, how did you change the handling of the animals at the zoo?… Read More
Were there challenges, were there problems, crating, sending animals to zoos?… Read More
Your mother had her hands full when you were a kid. Read More
You actually had a zoo in your backyard?… Read More
Yes. (laughs) When I was a youngster, we lived in Kansas City, Missouri, in 7,700 block of Summit Street in a very small little one-wood-frame house. And my mother was extremely tolerant, bless her soul, because I was one of these kids in the neighborhood, a lot of zoo people,… Read More
That was great, because they would, fall weather came, they would dig down and the spring came, they would come back up. I loved seeing that. But lots of things and a tarantula, and a boa constrictor named Julius Squeezer or Victor The Constrictor, or whatever you wanna say. Anyway,… Read More
Did the glare of the job of being zoo director ever wear off?… Read More
Being a zoo director is a glamorous job and being a zoo director in Topeka, Kansas is especially a glamorous job because we used to have a weekly TV program, and not long, but every week. And a lot of zoo directors said, oh gosh, I don’t like the fishbowl… Read More
Architects’ offices were up in the upper floors. I got on the elevator to go up to a meeting. A little lady gets on with me. We’re going up and I could feel her eyes looking up and down at me. And she said, “Well, has anyone ever told you… Read More
That’s a very difficult thing for me to assess. I’ve been out of zoo biz for 21 years. I’ve gone to some of the conferences, but not to a lot. I’ve been too busy doing safaris in Africa. I’ve not really kept up with the ins and outs. Things have… Read More
And the old timers like me, I guess, we’re so animal oriented, that’s what we think of. It’s hard for me to say if they’re doing what shouldn’t be done or not, ’cause I can’t really assess that. I would say this. I would say that things have changed and… Read More
One quick, last question in this section. Read More
And then we evolved into AZA and lots of changes. That was long after I was out of zoo biz, I retired from zoo biz in 1989. And many changes have happened since then. Read More
Would you say from what you know that, in your relationship with people within the profession, has AZA fulfilled that initial dream that those 10 people and other zoo people have?… Read More
The initial 10 board members and all the members of AACP in 1971 did have a dream. We did have a vision, let’s be an independent professional organization to serve the membership and to advance our profession. Read More