I think the other focus that I have is the behind-the-scenes housing and how we can improve those areas from basically concrete and steel to what else can we do to make it more comfortable for the animal?… Read More
And the other thing we’re learning, which I found very interesting, and both San Diego and Tampa participated in different studies about the amount of heat that we are bringing into these exhibits due to the gunite, the amount of radiated heat that comes off of that and what it… Read More
‘Cause they spend, you know, good part of their day back there too. It’s their bedroom. So when it comes to Tampa, there’s few more hurdles because of hurricanes. We have to be careful what we’re building and how we’re building them. But the process I enjoy, I enjoy master… Read More
Can you talk about the philosophy you may have regarding exhibit design?… Read More
My philosophy, you know, I’m always looking for the more space, the better. I want to maximize space. And sometimes that’s a battle depending on the footprint of the particular part of the facility we’re working with. I love aesthetics and I think it’s fantastic to be able to frame… Read More
Really learned how to negotiate with the Chinese on things, the dos and don’ts. But the pandas were certainly the icon of all of this and kind of handled separately than the other animals that we were dealing with. But, you know, bottom line is the final resolve to acquiring… Read More
Yes. So first acquisition was a temporary acquisition. They were there for three or four months I think. And then I think it was a combination of US Fish and Wildlife and AZA said, we gotta stop this or do long-term loans. And so that’s changed the entire philosophy around. Read More
So it started off kind of like, you know, a one-off, let’s see what happens, to a long-term animal management program, which, you know, now, it’s coming back around again one more time. I mean, all the animals went back to China and now they’re starting to come back out… Read More
But, you know, a lot of money spent but everybody bought into it, you know?… Read More
Can you talk about San Diego and giant pandas?… Read More
He wasn’t the lone ranger out there just spending money and everybody else had to figure it out. He had to get justification for all that and did, he was a very convincing person though. Read More
There’s no question about it. And sometimes it’s just not meant to be, you gotta move on. Read More
Oh yeah, without question, but not the negative collector part. He was always looking as to what’s gonna benefit the zoo ultimately by this acquisition. And you know, he could justify all that. He had to justify a lot of it because if we exceeded our budget, we had to… Read More
I mean, Jim didn’t collect to collect, he collected with results in mind. And you know, the Sumatran Rhino project was probably one of those disappointments we might’ve had because we weren’t able to keep the animals alive. And it was Los Angeles, and San Diego, and Cincinnati. I don’t… Read More
Well, not only did he learn German, he spoke it fluently. He also was able to write in German and he did his doctoral thesis, he wrote it in German. And his doctor-father told him, oh, you didn’t need to do this, you could’ve done it in English. And he… Read More
But that’s what it took, you know?… Read More
Would you say that Jim Dolan was a collector?… Read More
And some people used to say to me, well, you know, you’re just like a mini Dolan. And I said I take that as a compliment, a full compliment. Good, bad or otherwise, whatever you thought of him. I mean, again, once you knew him, once you got to know… Read More
Wow. He was my mentor. He taught me all the basic information about animal management and being a curator, how to be a curator, what it meant. Brilliant man. He forgot more than I’ll ever know and whip-smart, multilingual, and he had the ability to retain so much information about… Read More
I mean, I was doing more listening than I was doing talking. But he would impart information that was just, you’re not gonna get this out of a book. His experience was incredible. I’ll show you how smart he was. He went to Europe to get his PhD, and he… Read More