So we might target an animal like that and we would go alongside. And then the Inuit had to be the first one to jump out of the boat and try and reach over and grab the pectoral fins of the whale. And right after that person’s in the air,… Read More
It had holes for the pectoral fins and then with a number of guys just lift it out of the water, not to one of the canoes, bring it into shore and then put it in their temporary holding tanks. And then when the time came, pulling them from the… Read More
Sure. We would work with a group called the Nanook Enterprises, which had been working with the aquarium community and I think primarily Europe, United States, maybe Hong Kong. And they could take whales as part of their subsistence hunt. So whether they want to eat ’em or they could… Read More
Can you talk about that experience and what was involved?… Read More
The, the other really fun travel opportunity for me, I went to Canada many times, but was working with the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans where they would do beluga research. And that often meant temporarily collecting and holding animals in affixing a radio transmitter to their dorsal ridge… Read More
We don’t know the impact of your taking these penguin eggs. I’m like, legitimate. But we’re looking for, I think it was 50 eggs and they’ve got thousands of penguin colonies in, you know, penguins in colonies. So it was kind of like, ah. So that didn’t work out. The,… Read More
Well, you know, certainly going to meetings and international meetings, going to Hong Kong for instance, you know, for a meeting. I’m like, wow, I never thought this would happen. I, other than that it was going for primarily animal acquisition or seeking permission for animal acquisition. For instance, we… Read More
Was it to learn about exhibitry or it, what was your travel involving?… Read More
So did the aquarium have a master plan or was it just in the director’s mind?… Read More
I took it upon myself to like, do your best job to keep this department running smoothly. ’cause everybody’s looking to you. You’re the guy, you know, if something goes wrong, it’s gonna come back to you. So I had no qualms, especially after I got to know the marine… Read More
I think it probably just in the director’s mind with the oceanarium, you know, once he shared it, it became a, a bigger plan. His successor did roll out, let’s develop a master plan in a more formal way, which I was not a great enthusiast of the process, but… Read More
Yeah. Other than that, some fun stuff. Volunteer divers that would be vacuuming the bottom of the 2 million gallon pool. Occasionally, if they were experienced divers and we felt confident they’re not gonna goof around with the animals, we’d let the beluga whales in with them. And the belugas… Read More
No, no losses or animals escaping that way. So Did you enjoy being an administrator now?… Read More
Yes and no. No, because it took me further from actual hands on work with the animals. You know, even as curator you still get in there if it’s a big thing, all, all hands on deck, you get to be part of it. But as you get further up… Read More
Destroy it type of thing. We had them taking the, the nuts that held down, the outflow grates on the bottom, taking those off and basically could get to the strong flow of water. There’s been examples of young harbor seals getting sucked on a drain and drowning and oh… Read More
They basically look at something like, Hey, what’s this for?… Read More
They’re rolling them around like there’s no big deal. I’m like, oh my gosh. These are strong animals also. We used to provide, we still do clams and mussels, hard shelled items. After they extract the meat, they take ’em and they bang against the glass. So you can see… Read More
Anything where you learned something new?… Read More
Let’s see here. I’m trying to think. There were, there were no escapes, which is a good thing. ’cause most of these animals aren’t gonna go too far. I, you know, one of their crazy things is, you know, you design the facility as best you can, you get all… Read More
She goes, who do I talk to at the aquarium?… Read More