She resigned because yeah, it was in 2005 and the Post wasn’t letting up. It had nothing to do, I honestly believe it had reached a point where it had nothing to do with the zoo. It was all directed at her and the fact that they just didn’t like… Read More
It was true because if I can degress in the history for a moment when Reed was director, he had Ripley as secretary. So everything meshed, I mean, you had a really dynamic director, you had a really dynamic secretary of the Smithsonian and they complimented each other and the… Read More
And between the two secretaries not showing any interest in the zoo and Robinson out there not showing the interest in the zoo, in 18 years the zoo literally, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating here, the zoo literally went back almost to 1956 in the fact that the exhibits… Read More
And then John Berry’s name came up and we started looking at John and I mean, it was kinda like Jeez, here’s a guy that grew up in Washington, really knew the zoo, worked for the federal government, really knew the FEDs, worked for private industry and fundraising. He sounded… Read More
Yeah. And I had massive, massive run-ins with the deputy director, not with Lucy, but with her. And it had to do not with the collection, but it had to do with my ability to run my staff the way I thought it needed to be run and to run… Read More
I’ve gotten the collection built back up, we’ve got new exhibits opened and it had just, I think I’ve reached the point where I can’t do any more, but if I stay, I’m probably gonna start doing things that I wish I didn’t have to do. And that is, I’m… Read More
And I just said, “It’s time to go.” So in the successes you had, you weren’t able the job of director of Dr. Spelman, with those successes that wasn’t enough to save her job or she resigned?… Read More
And I told her, I said, “You want me to do my job?… Read More
I need to do it, I don’t need any interference from outside.” Even with that, it became difficult, I think I mentioned I had a real issue that came up very, very early. I think I hadn’t been there more than two or three weeks with a promise that had… Read More
And you’re telling me, I can’t, so you’ve got two choice, either it goes to Boston or I go out the gate and that’s where it stands.” And she said, “Well, we’re not gonna send out the giraffe”. And I said, “Okay, well, I’ll see you later.” And I walked… Read More
Did people in the department realize that other people and all the other departments that you were gonna make decisions and it was gonna be your decision?… Read More
When you decided to come back, you negotiated with the director, did you require a carte blanche autonomy to do what you thought needed to be done?… Read More
Yep, I absolutely did. Read More
Before you got there, what did you think was happening?… Read More
I thought that the animal care was really in trouble. And when I got back and I had to listen to the excuses that were being given for the deaths of these animals, it was like, I had to go through path reports and keeper reports for I think it… Read More
What did you see as the relationship then between the animal collections department and the medical department?… Read More
I thought there was a real problem, it wasn’t so much the animal department and the medical department because there was a real click between Spelman, the vet, and the deputy director. I mean, Lucy would come through the zoo with the deputy director, talk to the keepers, give them… Read More
So you negotiated terms to come back?… Read More
Yeah. As general curator. The original title Beck had, was assistant director for animal programs. And I said, “Look I don’t want that, just give me a title of general curator, that’s fine.” So part of the reason you came back was because of these animals, the bald Eagle, the… Read More
Okay, the zebras and the pandas?… Read More