It was $250,000, which today is nothing, but in those days was a lot, especially for what we were getting. And was to be paid for by general obligation bonds, the city, and the city commission met every Tuesday night. So it was all set. Five commissioners agreed to approve… Read More
So I went back and said, if the zoo pays for this through admissions, can we build it?… Read More
So that’s how the admission came about. We wanted to do an admission fee anyway, because I just felt it was better. We needed a perimeter fence. So you have to have a perimeter fence to get admission fee. And I just felt if people paid even mammal fee, it… Read More
So they were asking, when are we gonna the elephants, where are the elephants?… Read More
So elephants became the key. Well, if you’re gonna do elephants, then you should, a facility for elephants, with oversized drains, thick walls, high roofs, whatever, then you should think about what other animals that are appropriate for your zoo in that category that need that kind of requirement. So… Read More
Four chimps or orangs, or maybe eventually gorillas. So that building initially was called, as lot or more, in those days, the Large Mammal Building, but 10 years later, we changed the name and the whole theme of the building to Animals and Man, but 1964, I came in ’63. Read More
Well, cleaning the place up and everything, as we said earlier on but that all revolves around one species, this first big development, and that is somewhat of a controversial species these days. That species is elephants. I could tell if when people would ask me a question at the… Read More
Where are your elephants?… Read More
If they were from Topeka, they would say, “When are we gonna get elephants?” They knew we didn’t have ’em. When are we gonna get ’em?… Read More
Had it been my personal zoo, I would have built the rainforest first, because the concept for the rainforest was this geodesic dome, one structure with a ecosystem of live plants, birds and free-flight bats and free-flight animals roaming free, and visitor walks through. So you get multiple experiences. It… Read More
How’s this exhibit designed?… Read More
It was drawing upon them and their perspective of zoos, their perceptions, their knowledge of the literature, and just communication. And I don’t know, it was just, and I learned so much every time I went. Took a lot of slides, kept a card file on things. That was a… Read More
What was the first big development you did at the zoo?… Read More
What was your first big vision that you wanted to get accomplished?… Read More
Now why was it important for you to visit a lot of zoos?… Read More
Oh, number one, that’s how you learn. Number two, I think the highest compliment you can pay any zoo person is to visit them in their zoo or aquarium. Number three, it’s to develop the rapport, the professional rapport. Read More
And it wasn’t just how do you manage this animal?… Read More
Now, what zoo professionals were either your mentors, or did you learn from and respect while you were in this position?… Read More
Well, certainly Mr. Cully continued, during his tenure at the Kansas City Zoo, to be, he would come over periodically. Walk, and do the rounds, make the rounds with me, and that was, well, I loved that, that was marvelous. He was great. And early, when I first came, Clayton… Read More
And then he was a reptile guy. And when I was a keeper at Kansas City, and I would take the train to St. Louis, then I’d see him over there. So we were kinda the same generation and we became buddies. So as he progressed up the line, he… Read More