It was, there’s no perimeter fence. It was one main, what they called, a lot of zoos had this, I guess, the main zoo building, and this was built 1909. And it was one of these combination buildings. There was a row of barred cages on one side of the… Read More
They’ve expanded it and improved it since then. So they put hippos in the interior and a pool. And primates units for like red patas monkeys and green monkeys, mona monkeys. On the other side, a few reptiles. And at the far end was the elephant stall. And they had… Read More
And he said, “We’ve got a regular keeper going on vacation. We’re gonna train you for his job.” Oh my gosh, that was a dream come true. So I, and this was in what we called the north end with some miscellaneous animals, aoudad and tahr and camels, and tapirs,… Read More
And, oh my gosh, I thought I’m a failure. (chuckles) But after a couple of days, I learned, I remember what he said and I was patient and I learned that animals accepted me and by he time we got back, things were going well. So then he goes around… Read More
In other words, is he gonna pass, fail type thing, you know?… Read More
And of course the first day they give you a long pole with a nail on the end and a gunnysack and say, go clean all the papers in the parking lot. But that was good. That was good for me. And I thought this I gotta do. I’m gonna… Read More
So having a clean parking lot, having a parking lot is important, and having a clean one is very important in my opinion. Anyway, so during the summer, we did all these menial jobs, digging up broken shorelines and painting fences and cutting weeds and all this and once, about… Read More
And all us menial guys, we were on the chain gang. And so if you’re on the chain gang, he’d say, “Let’s bow and arrow it.” Which meant bow that back and arrow that ass. Get that shovel and start digging this broken sewer line or whatever. So every week… Read More
So by the end of the summer, I was the last guy. (chuckles) And Mr. Cully said, “Well, you’ve stuck it out.” It was kinda his way of saying who’s really serious about zoo biz?… Read More
What kind of schooling did you have when you were progressing?… Read More
Standard and routine, I would say. Went to grade school in Alexandria, Virginia, Robert E. Lee School, whose birthday is January 19th, Robert E. Lee’s birthday. And came back to Kansas City and finished, I actually took seventh and eighth grade together at the time and went through De La… Read More
Well, actually I, on January 19th, 1955, when I was 16 years old, I rushed out to Kansas City Zoo in Slope Park and the director at the time was Mr. William T. A. Cully. And a very nice guy and well known in the zoo world at the time,… Read More
I didn’t know just about hippos, but I knew those hippos and those polar bears and those giraffes and I was so excited, what am I gonna get to work with today?… Read More
So it had a strong influence on me. But I took the train to St. Louis just to see the zoo and I didn’t have a car. Didn’t have a car till I was probably 25 years old and went to every zoo I could just taking the bus or… Read More
Now as a child, were you interested in working in a zoo?… Read More
Mark, as a child, there were two things I wanted to do in life. One was work in the zoo and the other was go to Africa. And I’d always had this fascination with wildlife and the animals of Africa and Africa itself always intrigued me. And my father, a… Read More
In fact, when I was seven years old, he got me my own membership at National Geographic Society. Now that’s long before they had these junior memberships, like they have these days, full fledge. So he’d get his magazine, I get my magazine. And that was really good. It encouraged… Read More
Gary K. Clarke, K stands for king. (chuckles) Just joking. I was born in Wichita, Kansas on January 19th, 1939. And grew up early years in Kansas, but then moved back to Virginia ’cause of my father’s job and then to Kansas City, Missouri. So I finished grade school in… Read More
What zoos did you see when you were growing up?… Read More
Well, the first zoo I am told that I saw was the old Central Riverside Park Zoo in Wichita which, quite honestly I don’t remember seeing it then. I remember seeing it in later years, but that probably was the first zoo that I visited. The zoo I remember most… Read More