And I think we have the capacity now to keep both Asian and and African elephants. And we probably are gonna have to import some that may not even be able to happen anymore. But I, we probably will need some, some new blood in our population or at least,… Read More
We probably have a lot of the same, you know, what are the 10 best zoos in the United States?… Read More
In fact a lot of good zoos now. It’s hard to, hard to pick. Yeah. Read More
I mean you’d have to put WCS and Bronx Zoo there. You’d have to put San Diego. I put Denver and St. Louis, but we could all argue which are the best. And there’s some great small zoos. I there’s a neat little zoo in, in Green Bay, the New… Read More
I think it’s just a classic zoo and it’s obviously in a very tropical area. I love Zoo Victoria with the three or four zoos. ’cause I really like the Hillsburg Sanctuary outside of Melbourne. It’s all native animals, you know, they got platypus and they got, and it’s really… Read More
It’s absolutely gorgeous. I’m trying to think, some of the zoos in Europe, Munster had some really good exhibits and another one, I can’t remember which one ’cause they all kind of go together now. Incredible polar bear exhibit where, you know, you can go under water in a ship… Read More
And I have to say all the, the chairs of the Zeus Society, I, most of them went to Africa with me. So I, you know, I was, well, well-liked by the Zeus Society and, and we worked to, again, the commissioners got concerned that the Zeus Society was raising… Read More
So I think 60% goes to the general operating fund, which is a sense operates the zoo and then 10% goes to a conservation fund of their, and then, and they’re able to raise a lot of money that way. So that arrangement is, is very good. I’m really proud… Read More
We hired, so we had a marketing department. We, the, the education department at the time when I got there was also running guest services. And now they have a real professional guest services department. So creating those departments was good. And also helping to build up the Zeus Society… Read More
I think it was the two couple of people things. For instance, you know, we talked about quarter, but it wasn’t just the quarters for conservation, but it was, we hired the first conservation director and so we had a conservation, I think it was called conservation coordinator, a young… Read More
So what would you say is your proudest accomplishment?… Read More
And then we just kept growing. So creating this quote conservation department, which was really involved in field conservation, although they do obviously in-house projects too, was great. So it was really building up the staff and, and really supporting the education and education program. When I got there, was… Read More
It could be bought more, but they’re expanding the rainforest. The rainforest is closed right now and they’re expanding the rainforest to, for, for an outdoor exhibit for rings. ’cause we didn’t have, we only had indoor for rings and eventually for a, for gorillas stew. But it’s a huge… Read More
But as any, I think any zoo director would say, there’s always like things you would’ve liked to do. And, but you know, I, I think we did a lot and, and what they, I have to say this too, I am just so happy with what they’ve done since… Read More
But as far as people and stuff, I, and we were always able to expand the staff, which was great. I think when I started we had 80 people. We probably doubled up by the time I left. So not a whole lot of things I would’ve done a lot… Read More
Well I mentioned Penguin. We, we had some things that I would’ve liked to do, but on a big scale I would, we have an area almost in the center of the zoo, unfortunately it’s in a floodplain. But right now, as you walk towards what we call wilderness trek… Read More
Are there programs or exhibits that you would’ve implemented during your tenure that you did not, did not have?… Read More
Hmm. Well we mentioned the reptile cages. You know, I, I know obviously there were exhibits I wish we could have built, but, you know, we went, I I only built four, maybe five big exhibits. We got a lot of, I said I I, I built five new restrooms… Read More
If you could go back in time, what would you have done differently?… Read More
Take my wife along and stuff. So it’s, it is fun. So I’m, I think I’m pretty well involved. It’s a passion of mine. It’s still what I like to do. It’s a hobby. Still go to zoos, try to get different new zoos all the time. So I’m still… Read More