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
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
But that’s what it took, you know?… Read More
Would you say that Jim Dolan was a collector?… 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
I mean, he was certainly, avid reader. Oh my God, his book collection, legendary, you know, just incredible ability to gather information from all kinds of mediums. And when we would travel, which we did quite a bit, he was so knowledgeable about zoos, and foreign countries, and wildlife in… Read More
Can you share your relationship with Jim Dolan?… Read More
Who was he, what did he teach you?… Read More
So he’d come to the wild animal park. But yeah, I mean, what he did for that institution and facility is remarkable and they still benefit from it today. Read More
Yeah, you know, the wild animal park was his brainchild. It was his baby. A practicing veterinarian that became a zoo director. And as I said earlier, he used to walk around the zoo, he loved it, he’d be there at all hours, you know, walking around and taking notes… Read More
And it’s amazing, people were afraid to sit with him, they’d sit away from him, you know?… Read More
But having had some interaction with him before I’d go sit with him and he thanked me one time, he said thank you. He said it gets lonely here sometimes. But he’d pick up his mail and he’d go home. And I can remember one day in admin, I just… Read More
We’re gonna start more mixed species because it’s all very doable. It’s all very possible. We wanna talk about some people. Read More
That’s just not possible, mostly due to space constraints. But through some very clever engineering and architecture, it’s amazing what you can do to an exhibit to make it compatible for multiple species. So it is very possible now. I think it’s a great, great philosophy to have. And even… Read More
Can you talk about Dr. Schroeder, who he was and your relationship with him?… Read More
The European zoos have needs, zoos in Asia have needs. China, whether you, you know, wanna send animals there or not, they have needs. So there’s outlets for all these animals. And people I think, basically, get lazy about it, and then get worried, and frightened. So nothing happens as… Read More
Yeah, that’s kind of how I was born into the industry was mixed exhibits. I think they’re great. A lot, a lot was learned in the early days at the wild animal park about what you can mix, and what you can’t mix, and how many of everything you can… Read More
Can you talk about your philosophy of mixed exhibits?… Read More
They move ’em amongst themselves, you know, including private ranches and things like that. Or they just stop breeding, which I think is a crime. You know, these are not cows and horses, okay, you need to keep them breeding. You need to keep them, you know, mentally and physically… Read More