So totally it’s my fault. And that’s so often the case in zoo situations, it’s human error or misjudgment or whatever, although the animal frequently gets blamed. But no, in fact, in my last Midwest Research Institute, they gave me the snake and I had Big Red as a member… Read More
National Guard had to fly the St. Louis Zoo to get additional antivenin, because I didn’t have enough stock, and so on. That’s a bad deal. Read More
You were in the hospital for a while?… Read More
I was in the hospital for a while and my left leg, he bit me in the left knee, inside the left knee, my left leg felt like somebody had run it through a meat grinder, then poured hydrochloric acid on it, and was taking a blow torch going up… Read More
So that taught you a little about safety with animals as you transferred it to your zoo people?… Read More
Yes, none, in this zoo, that threatened my life. I did have one in Kansas City, working with the African elephants, as I was taking them out of the barn one day onto the veldt, a sparrow or something flew over and scared Casey, the bull elephant. And he turned… Read More
It shouldn’t have happened. And then we had one incident where a keeper was knocked down by an elephant years ago, but no permanent injuries and did all right. Fortunately, that’s all that I can remember. Read More
And your rattlesnake?… Read More
Well, my rattlesnake bite was at Midwest Research Institute. Now that, yeah, it wasn’t in the zoo, but it was kinda a zoo-like setting because we set up this laboratory with all these snake exhibits that Kansas City discontinued to study the snake bite. And so I wanted to create… Read More
And to visit with him and it was kinda like a long wooden shed and then out back were a few more sheds. And, boy, they was sending orders all over the world, but things were always getting loose. I mean, I had a very distant relationship with him, but… Read More
It’s a great thing. Read More
(Gary laughing) Have there ever been any accidents with animals that threatened your life or the lives of keepers in the zoo?… Read More
Word got out, we had, fortunately, we had our first response team procedure set up that we had, gotta wear a rifle in case we had to, heaven forbid, destroy the animal, or we had to capture equipment with the mobilizing and all this business. And that functioned beautifully and… Read More
It shouldn’t happen to nobody, but it does ’cause zoos are human institutions. There was a biological supply house in Topeka. Read More
(Gary chuckling) Quivira Specialties, can you tell us about him and your relationship or was there any connection?… Read More
I recently got a paper from James B. Murphy, the renowned prominent herpetologists at the National Zoological Park in Washington. And he gave a list of all these dealers that used to deal in reptiles. And on that list was Quivira Specialties Company, Topeka, Kansas, he was at 21st in… Read More
Yes, we had monkeys get off our island. The valve, it’s an old monkey island built by WPA and the valve broke overnight and the water moats run in the island, and these were spider monkeys and they all got off, and out through the park. Come in the next… Read More
But that’s the way the public is. It’s wonderful. And Paul Linger, he was on our staff at the time. He said, “I tell you what, I know how to get those monkeys. Let’s just slip ’em a Mickey Finn. So we took some oranges and injected them with kind… Read More
Then their reflex grip kind of comes in. And so they all conked out and hung on. (chuckles) We stood down there with this net feeling like fools. (Gary chuckles) but one by one, they started coming back to the zoo. So we baited the island. And when they would… Read More
Went out, pulled the door shut, but didn’t latch it or lock it. Pulled the door shut, was, I dunno, working with the hose. We don’t know, got distracted, but the door was in the shut position and looked okay, opened the transfer door, let the tiger out into the… Read More