When I, when I started the hospital, staff was myself, one veterinary technician and one keeper to take care of the animals in the hospital. So my responsibilities was running that staff of two people, but was responsible for the medical care of a very good size and complex collection. Read More
Well, the director that was there throughout almost all of my dozen year tenure at Lincoln Park was Dr. Les Fisher. And Les was also a veterinarian. He started out as the part-time consulting veterinarian at Lincoln Park Zoo in the late forties. And somebody with a lot of, a… Read More
What were your responsibilities as a young veterinarian?… Read More
Louis. And so that was the genesis of feeling very at home in the children’s zoo at Lincoln Park And in Lincoln Park at the time you were there when you started, who was the first director of the zoo and what was your relationship with the director?… Read More
Louis. And then you went outside and this was only open seasonally, but you went outside and there was this area where there were lots of exhibits and different animals exhibited out there and there was artificial streams running through it. And, and it all felt very familiar. And what… Read More
I, I, I guess one of my, one of my first experiences, that was one of the first things that interested me. ’cause I, I really had an attachment to the Children’s Zoo at St. Louis. That’s where I started out working as a keeper. It’s where I met my… Read More
What type of zoo did you find when you got on the job?… Read More
Well, the, you know, as a, as a veterinarian, it, it’s a, it’s a bit of, it’s, it’s determined by what your specialty is. If you are a small animal practitioner, you could look at practices anywhere in the country. A large animal food, animal veterinarian would be, you know,… Read More
Lincoln Park was my preference because with most of my family in St. Louis, there was a relatively much shorter commute to go home for visits. So I was, I was interested in Lincoln Park and I got that position At the time when you went to Lincoln Park, who… Read More
Yes. And how do you, how do you get the job at the Lincoln Park Zoo?… Read More
I, I think it, it’s a little bit, it’s a little bit like thinking about the, the Super Bowl at the beginning of each football game in the season. You’re, you’re engaged in what you’re doing now and learning everything you can and getting through your residency more than setting… Read More
Louis Zoo, and I started that in 1979. Read More
So during this residency and, and also the internship, were you thinking about how you would approach zoo medicine?… Read More
Yes, yes. The residency at the time, the residency was a two year program and it was the first one in the country that was, that was associated with a university, but actually located at a zoo. So I, I think I was about the 11th person to complete a… Read More
So the residency is different than the internship?… Read More
So after you graduate from veterinary school, do you start a men an internship?… Read More
And now that I hadn’t done anything to advance my zoo career, I didn’t even make the final cut on either of those. So recognized that I needed to do something a little more academically rigorous to increase my chances in applying for other zoo positions. So around that time… Read More
Well, there were, at the time there were two internships in zoo animal medicine, one at San Diego and one at National Zoo. And so I applied for both of those along with 60 or 70 other folks from across the country. And, and I actually was first alternate at… Read More
Did you have any mentors at this time?… Read More
Well, I, I, I spent time with, with Dr. Beaver at the hospital again, around the time that I, that I started. So by the time, by the time I was full-time in the children’s zoo, Dr. Beaver was established as the full-time vet at the zoo. And the, the… Read More