My earliest memories were probably Rochester. That was the only zoo that was there. Occasionally we’d take a trip to Buffalo and that was the big zoo, but I believe that my oldest, earliest interaction with zoos was in Rochester at the Seneca Park Zoo. You found it fascinating or… Read More
What did they do for a living?… Read More
My parents were, I think, typical parents for that age, it was just after World War II. My mom was a stay-at-home mom taking care of the boys. My dad was a production manager for an advertising firm in Rochester. Read More
And what is your earliest memories of zoos?… Read More
What was your childhood like growing up in Rochester?… Read More
My childhood in Rochester was much different than most childhoods. I was the oldest of four children, four boys, God rest my mother’s soul. And we had freedom that children today don’t have. It was not unusual for us, particularly during the summer to say, okay, we’re out on an… Read More
Collecting animals was kind of intuitive to me as far back as I can remember. And I thought about this a little bit. I’ve always had this, not a need, but this knack for picking things up, for looking at things, for trying to understand nature and what’s in nature. Read More
What did your parents do?… Read More
My name is Dennis Meritt. I was born in Rochester, New York, and it is the 7th of May, 2016. Read More
When were you born, what’s the date of your birth?… Read More
Oh, date of my birth is May 17th, 1940. Read More
To what extent do you continue to be active in the zoological field or the conservation field?… Read More
Well, the only thing I’m doing right now is staying active with the Sahara Conservation Fund started about eight or nine years ago with a group of zoos and scientists that were interested in the Sahara Desert. We became a 501(c)(3) in 2007. And we work in field conservation in… Read More
Do you have something you can tell me if it’s one or two things, your proudest accomplishment?… Read More
I’m a believer in maintaining elephants. I never wanted to maintain them because first of all, they scared the hell out of me. And secondly, I mean, there really aren’t any desert elephants. There are some that cross the Kalahari back and forth across the Kalahari, but I chose to… Read More
What’s reasonable size?… Read More
I don’t know, a couple of acres, two or three acres. I really think we can and I think there are animals who need to move around as much as elephants do in a natural situation that we manage reasonably well. I actually would be far more concerned about whether… Read More
Elephants, I actually think because you can manage them and enrich them, I think you could probably do fine. Read More
But I mean, the reality is I think they could spend less time at some levels trying to help zoo directors and curators micromanage their collection, and probably a whole lot more time yet and I’m not suggesting they’re not doing any, or they’re not, but a whole lot more… Read More
Because collectively it’s our only probable chance, at least making some dents in the money and time and effort that’s being spent in trying to make us be irrelevant in the eyes of the public. So, if they didn’t do anything else but that, I think that would be the… Read More