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
Whether or not, how has that, in the intervening years, how has that progressed into what today is the AZA, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and is that dream still alive?… Read More
All zoo people knew all other zoo people. And everybody responded. Bob Weidener from Jackson, Mississippi Zoo said, “I’ll be the treasurer.” Don Davis, Cheyenne Mountain said, “I’ll have my accounting department send out the invoices.” Karen Salsman from Living Desert Museum came up and said, “I’ll do the newsletter.”… Read More
Oh, the other thing was, when we made the split, the aquarium people were disenchanted. They said the last A of AAZPA, American Associations of Zoos, Parks, and Aquariums, that’s being ignored. We’re gonna split off and go with the histologist and herpetologists. And the rest of the board said… Read More
If we’re gonna be zoos and aquariums, let’s do it.” And they agreed, and today, we are. So that was how we started. And then Bob Wagner, no, let’s see. We started, and I said, “I can’t offer this out of Topeka.” The lady who used to be within NRPA… Read More
So that was a whole nother gamut of people. And AAZPA was still a subset of that. And I guess there were times when they would meet and the national conference would be held in the city. They didn’t even have a zoo at that time. Most major cities do… Read More
And we talked, one of the things where you talk about it a lot, but can we do it?… Read More
We didn’t know if we could or not, didn’t have enough gumption to try or whatever. But 1971, we met in Salt Lake City. And by then, the feeling was running rampant. Everybody agreed. We need to get out. It wasn’t so much a rebellion. We weren’t necessarily rebelling against… Read More
We were revenue to them for one thing, so on. But the AAZPA conference in Salt Lake City was well attended. And the motion was made and a long time zoo guy named Saul Kitchener (chuckles) was, I think at Lincoln Park Zoo at the time. He’s a no bones… Read More
In other words, we got nothing out of NRPA. We started out as an independent organization for the first time on our own two feet with absolutely nothing. And the 10 of us on the board at the time, which included Lester Fisher and Bill Breaker and Louis Desabato, and… Read More
If they don’t, fine, if you don’t wanna volunteer anywhere, if you want to go volunteer at the history museum, that’s great, but the ones who wanna volunteer, let’s take the zoo and run with it. So I don’t know. That was a difficult part for me, it started changing. Read More
Was zoos breaking away from the Parks Association and all that time?… Read More
The AAZPA initially was formed, as I recall, in 1924. And it was a part of the American Institute of Park Executives, AIPE, and AIPE was the dominant organization, and we were the sub-organization. So all the conferences were held, they were AIPE conferences and zoos where a subset. A… Read More
And then the city started pressuring me saying, now they’ve got office space at the zoo, don’t they?… Read More
Yep, well, we should charge them rent. Read More