Yeah, because we had, I mean, there was a huge input on the part of the research department with Devra Kleiman. There was a huge input with the vets because one that they were incredibly important animals and that they had never been maintained in the National Zoo. We sent… Read More
How important were they to the zoo and to the zoo visitors?… Read More
Well, we were completely swamped for many years, visitors would come in from all over the place just to see the pandas. I mean, to the point where they’d bring busloads of people in, they’d jump off the bus, they’d run over and they’d look at the pandas they run… Read More
And I think the longest any of those cubs lived was I think, four days. And so it was a major problem and a major disappointment. Read More
Did you have to deal with the media or was that for the staff?… Read More
What was your position at the zoo?… Read More
I was a mammal curator at the time. I remember going up there. It was funny because, and maybe it was Nixon’s wife, but I think it was, honestly, God, I think it was Carter, but anyhow, but Horsley was the general curator at the time and he was late… Read More
And we’re still expanding. Read More
Well, obviously how it came about was it was Nixon’s visit to China that opened the doors for the US and relations with China. And when Nixon went over there, he evidently was able to, or was offered the giant pandas. And we had very little notice, Ted came back… Read More
And that’s why it was such a chaotic situation when we were trying to get these white rhinos out of their enclosure out to San Diego. And even though they’d been the zoo for many years, and they were a gift from one of our major donors and they were… Read More
They came in under Nixon. Read More
They came in under Nixon, but why am I thinking about Carter?… Read More
During that time, can you tell us the story of Shing-Shing and Ling-Ling, the giant pandas from China?… Read More
How did that come about?… Read More
Was it craziness?… Read More
Not really, and I mean, what the heck?… Read More
I mean, I met my second wife there, I met my third wife there, not as a keeper, but my second wife was a keeper, so yeah, and there were a lot of relationships that sprung up between the male and female staff. I mean, it was not so much… Read More
Side question, were the policies established about that kind of thing or not at all?… Read More
No. I mean, when I married my second wife, she worked for me. So I had to have her supervised by another curator, which was a little awkward. It was even more awkward when I got divorced, but we’ll talk about that way down the road. Read More
Yeah, I think there was resentment, not only for the first female keeper, but I think there was resentment on the part of a lot of the keepers. And I think to a certain extent, the curatorial staff, I don’t know about Ted, but over the fact that they were… Read More