Honestly, sometimes they don’t like to hear what you have to say. Well, and sometimes they’ll, they’ll try to contort your words. And that happens in the media a lot when people get their words contorted. And, and, you know, social media’s not always a friend, you know, know regarding… Read More
Have you had to deal with this at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo?… Read More
So, you know, how do you confront them?… Read More
And they want the very best for their animals. You know, they wouldn’t manage it to make certain that they’re providing the right food and the right conditions and everything like that. And so your zookeepers are your most aggressive advocates for the welfare of, of your animals, because they’re… Read More
But could you give us your thoughts on how best to deal with these anti zoo groups?… Read More
You know, there will always be anti zoo groups. Okay. It is just, and that it is just always gonna be, and you can try and rationalize with them and explain in great detail. It is just like on political spectrums, you know, there’s, there’s extremes and there’s moderates, you… Read More
And again, when your coworkers, when your team is committed and dedicated, do the very best I mean, zookeepers, those animals, pardon me, quite often are their children, okay?… Read More
Your, you talked about your guests, but do you feel today zoos are afraid or seem afraid to confront animal welfare and rights groups that are against zoos?… Read More
Even sometimes people in the profession in are, are in top positions, are have opinions. Read More
The Lincoln Children’s Zoo, I mean, 18 acres, that’s 18 acres is good for a small herd of elephant. Okay? We’re not gonna have just an elephant, you know, herd at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo, that kind of thing. So I think it’s, it’s what’s really important is listening to… Read More
Okay. So, and that’s what the mission of the, that that’s why this children’s zoo was created in 1965. Our founder, Mr. Arnold Folsom, wanted kids to be connected with nature. You know, now in 1965, they did a little bit differently. You could sit on a Galapagos tortoise and… Read More
We have pioneers Park Nature Center, which has native Nebraska fauna in Florida. So we shouldn’t be redundant. Okay. A community of 350,000. You don’t wanna have a redundant collection that’s, you know, five mile, five miles away from your institution. So you try to be respectful of what’s in… Read More
’cause you know, you obviously, you asked the question, what, what’s the top five animals you wanted to zoo?… Read More
Is it endangered? Is it just species people like, I, I think what’s real key to the success of an institution in a community is listening to that community, talk to people. And it not like they get a, a vote and I want orcas or I want elephants. Read More
Zoo? I mean, if you just ask a child or ask, ask a parent in the community, of course, you know, the list is they want elephants and they want lions and all the typical megavertebrates. Okay, well though that’s important to hear, but you also have to do more… Read More
Is it North American? Is it the western hemisphere?… Read More
So for a medium size zoo with limited financial resources available to them, what do you think should be the focus of the collection?… Read More
So, so we’ve done all kinds of conservation work, South Africa with giraffe. And you just, you just have to make that commitment to do it. And, and carve out a little bit of your budget too. It doesn’t have to be that expensive, especially if you collaborate with other… Read More
It’s, you know, all you have to do is commit three weeks of an employee’s time and their, their travel budget and send them out. It’s not that much money anymore. Okay. It, so it’s very easy to be involved in international conservation. It’s very, very easy. Especially like I… Read More
It was very much a seasonal zoo, as many zoos that were the children’s zoo time built in the fifties and sixties. Okay. So it’s, it’s a medium-sized zoo. And you know, I think being involved in conservation is, is really easy for an institution. Once you really put your… Read More