Interview 1738 – Caption Index: 496
And just being aware of tying the zoo in any way you can, with holidays, for Thanksgivings coming up, what’s the history of turkeys?… Read More
And just being aware of tying the zoo in any way you can, with holidays, for Thanksgivings coming up, what’s the history of turkeys?… Read More
What advice would I give to education people in zoos regarding conservation, scientific research?… Read More
First of all, I think I may have said this already, but awareness, consciousness of our environment and our responsibility for the world as it is, the world as it will be. It is our responsibility. Zoos, because it’s such a high profile public institution, I think, have real responsibility… Read More
There’s just so much potential. And someone who gets involved and is there on a daily basis, I think they’ll see that and can make it happen. Read More
Well, what type of advice would you give the new zoo director about the importance of marketing your zoo?… Read More
So are these some of the things and others that can make this visitor connection to the zoo more powerful?… Read More
Oh, yes, very definitely. I think any way you can get people involved with the zoo is helpful and elicit their support. I think that’s very important, but I dunno. I think about that from time to time. I don’t have a lot of things popping into my mind right… Read More
So what advice would you be giving to the education programs at zoos as it relates to conservation and scientific research and things like that?… Read More
Yes, it’s very important as a function of the zoo and education is not just how many bones are in a giraffe’s neck?… Read More
Education is an awareness of how magnificent animals are. It’s an appreciation of animals. It’s a sense of, as I said at one point, a sense of stewardship, about wildlife and wild places, and the Earth, but it’s important as far as the image of the zoo, because, and first… Read More
I don’t know if they do it today or not, but when I was at the zoo, we had a magazine called Zoo Magazine. It was every other month. Not only would it go to the members, but we made arrangements for, we printed enough copies for a copy to… Read More
They’ve got cameras at the Black Bear Exhibit that monitor the black bear behavior and transmits this to classrooms in schools. Other zoos around the country are far advanced, much more advanced in doing that than Topeka is at this point. But Topeka, you can do a lot of that. Read More
You need somebody, but you don’t need me. But that’s the way they would think. Now let me tell you what has happened. (chuckles) From, oh, we need you back at the zoo, to the new man’s in place now, Brendan Wiley. He’s young, he’s enthusiastic, he’s passionate, he’s got… Read More
I didn’t know you were still alive. (Gary laughing) So you see, they didn’t need me. They needed somebody. And Brendan apparently is the guy. I hope he is. And the first day he was in town to be announced as the director, he was busy as hell, the media… Read More
He’s called me more than all the rest of ’em put together. (Gary chuckles) But I still don’t have any direct pipeline to the zoo. Everybody thinks I should or would, but no, I shouldn’t. No, I’m history, and that’s the way it should be. Talked about education. We’ve talked… Read More
Do you think that’s important in boosting the image of the zoo, especially in the face of people who are anti-zoo?… Read More
(Gary laughing) And when things would get bad, sometimes they’d say, oh, we need you back at the zoo. They didn’t need me back at the zoo. They needed the zoo to be better, but that was the quick fix, they thought. And then when they lost accreditation that things… Read More
And I would always say to these folks, I would say now, remember, back in the late 80s, when the Kansas City Royals won the World Series?… Read More
Oh yeah, I remember that. Well, asking me to go back to the zoo and make a quick fix is like saying to the manager of the Royals in the late 80s, when they won the World Series, and the Royals are now in last place, as usual, well, go… Read More
I didn’t have to put up with politics and bureaucracy, and (chuckles) so on, in doing that. But anyway, so I vowed to never look over my shoulder. Now because I was here for 26 years, and because this is a smaller community, and because the position of the director… Read More