What worries me is the politics and the governments that make these decisions, you know, probably isolated from, from the communities that are there, I think. And, and politics doesn’t seem to, it’s not a long term conservation’s, long term commitment. Political, you know, political stuff is not, or even… Read More
What I’m meaning is, if if you’re not making, if you’re not every year doing something to help people and, and animals in remote communities save the habitat for the animals, then I, I I, I don’t, I I can’t justify a zoo that is just, that just, you know,… Read More
When you were director of the Houston Zoo, did you ever contemplate trying to change the name?… Read More
So you get to know them better. And, and, and that, that works for what I’m doing, but I’m not so sure the general public is, is is there yet the, the the, we, we have a lot of history. I wish we could change the name zoo. I, I… Read More
Instead, I’m doing something that is a model that will eventually generate more funds than I could ever generate in my lifetime. So I think that that’s the, you know, that that’s the change in, in attitudes of most zoos is that, you know, less species. Not, not, not dramatically… Read More
What would you say has been the greatest areas of development that you’ve seen in the way zoos have interpreted their collections to their visitors?… Read More
Again, we used to brag years ago about having species from every species, you know, the, the encyclopedia of, of, of, of species. Nowadays it’s more about zoo geographic. So animals from a certain certain area are in one section of the zoo and another section. I mean, that’s fine. Read More
Like giraffes is a good one. You know, they keep trying to say if there’s four species and, and seven subspecies, there’s seven species and few subspecies. You know, to me the, that, that, that’s a technicality that in the end when we’re down to just a few animals, we’re… Read More
So they’re in the private sector now. And that gets complicated because it sounds like, oh, well we only care about these species and we don’t care about these. When you start playing triage, you get in trouble. But then again, sometimes it’s necessary. Read More
I don’t know. It it, it changes so much. You have a lot of people that rely on genetics and inbreeding more than, I mean, inbreeding goes on in the wild sometimes too. It’s, so, I, I think sometimes we get too obsessed with certain elements. Everything’s a tool in… Read More
You’ve worked with them, has their selection criteria to decide which animals become part of the survival species program Met with what you envisioned?… Read More
But again, let’s, let’s protect the habitat so we don’t get to that point that we have to keep doing this. Now you’ve worked within a ZA American Zoo Association organization. Read More
The a wild lion would just eat, its a zoo borne lion wouldn’t, wouldn’t have a chance in, in a situation like that. So it’s, it’s very complex, but it’s something we should do. It, it’s definitely, I don’t want it to become an expectation that, that that, that that’s… Read More
That was, we brought back the bison. We al well it was almost extinct. The condor, the the black-footed ferret the wolf in some cases. Although now, now that now once you get successful, then you get too successful. And now, and now you have that, you know, wildlife conflict… Read More
How successful would you say zoo and or aquariums have been in achieving the reintroduction of species back into the wild?… Read More
And, and if, if we have that attitude, if we’re not, if we’re not proactive, I use that word a lot. I don’t think there’s hope for the human race. Isn’t that a dismal Well, it’s Philosophy In the wild then. Read More
I think we cite, you know, the, the few exceptions that work, bison definitely worked, right?… Read More
It’s just gonna keep getting worse in the future unless we can be a pro. Are we a proactive species? I don’t think so. I think most people take the money and run right now. That’s, that’s, that’s the, that’s the challenge we have. That’s, that’s what politicians do. They… Read More
It is gonna be more managed by people because humans are now the key factor in the, in the future evolution of, of the environment. We have the biggest impact on, on what’s going on in the, on the planet. And, and unfortunately, I don’t think most people, a lot… Read More
A lot of that is about liberating women and educating women in other countries. So they don’t just keep popping out babies. They don’t want to do that either. But sometimes they don’t have a choice, you know, that, that gets into politics, religion, you know, family planning. It’s, it’s,… Read More