The condor, what we called the Condor Cliffs and Patagonian Panorama. It was temperate, South American animals. We had maned wolves. These were, they were not, the big exhibit was condors, but we had a gillions of birds in there. We had lizards, we had iguanas in there. We had…… Read More
I mean, it was a little risky mixing animal species. And we did it, if it looked like it would work, if it seemed like it would work, we’d try it. And then we’d watch them like hell, and if it didn’t work, get them the hell out of there. Read More
And he was all, had all kinds of bad qualities. And I fired him. And he had a chance to go up above to whatever you call it. Appeal. Appeal, and he went to city council. They have to listen to whoever’s there. And that was not helpful. And a… Read More
And just firing that one guy had that effect with several people who were not, they were kind of… I think they were worried about the trust coming, not having, I mean, they wouldn’t have a job at the zoo anymore, but they would have a job. And they wanted… Read More
Teamsters! Yeah. One, was the teamsters, the other was the public service restaurants, and all that that they were in. And I’m happy to tell you that when we became the trust, every employee in the zoo had the opportunity, one, stay with the city. The city guaranteed them a… Read More
So they had a choice there. They could stay with the city in some new job, or they could come with us, or they could quit. But they’d have a job either way. Both of those unions voted to what’s called de… There’s a word for it, when you get… Read More
They really were forced into it before, and now they didn’t have to be. And we had built up, and I’m proud of this, and I don’t think I’m tooting my own horn. But we had developed enough confidence of zoo employees in their jobs and in the management that… Read More
[Mark} Teamsters?… Read More
Well, one was the whatever, who was the?… Read More
They were in a lot of zoos. Read More
By that I mean admissions, food and beverage sales, gift shop sales, any grant money or donations, and that sort of thing. Those were bread and butter. And it seemed to me that if we could get those better organized under the trust, it would, but it took time. And… Read More
I’m very proud of one fact. I was dealing with two unions in that zoo, two. One, was the public service employees. And we, by the way, we took that over when we became the trust, and all that money and that. And we developed that. We had the highest… Read More
Oh! Well, the lack of money for, we just didn’t have money for capital improvements. And, Mark, when we… When the trust was formed, this was a big transition, because we went from one system, the city system, and getting a lot of work, help from the city to doing… Read More
Well, the question that kind of leads in is as you began to change direction of the zoo, what hindrances, what major hindrances occurred from what direction?… Read More
And I think I used to do some of that at Fort Worth before I had people. You get in the habit of something, and it’s hard to change it. But I changed it. I damn sure did. I’m sorry, I’ve… Oh no. Read More
And I had him do that for every animal that we were breeding. Well, he wanted to work, he wanted to do that. But he also was doing his doctoral dissertation on digestion by rhinos and elephants. And it was kind of intruding on him if he needed to be… Read More
What was the last thing you?… Read More
But I don’t want to hear about the problems in between. That’s their job is to solve those problems. It’s their job also to come to me if they can’t do it. And that’s my form of management. And I think the roadmap is very important. Read More
And sometimes, now, Tom, you ever heard of Tom Foos?… Read More
I hired Tom Foos, and he had terrible credentials, terrible credentials. At the Philadelphia Zoo, they, I’ll tell you what, they were very critical of him, and his wife for some reason. I always found his wife pretty nice. Tom Foos was a very difficult guy to work with. He… Read More