Interview 24153 – Caption Index: 53
Yeah. (laughs) Well, let me ask a follow up on the Catskills. Read More
Yeah. (laughs) Well, let me ask a follow up on the Catskills. Read More
Did Roland Lindemann ever give you any advice that you used later in later life?… Read More
Think of a name that you’d like to be.” (chuckles) And Heinz did. I’ve forgotten what his title was. But he was not happy there. They fit in very well. They really filled the title of assistant director. This was around Christmastime of that year. That spring, my duties were… Read More
Roland said, “By the way, you don’t have to get rid of your job by September 1st. You could stay on a little longer if you’d like.” And I said, “No, we’ve already made our arrangements to move to Florida. Our children are already enrolled in school in Florida, but… Read More
I would report to the basement of the administrative building, and put together the groups of gift shops. And there were a group of gift shops in the entire park. I would put together the number of photographs that they needed to refill their stock. Along about July, he called… Read More
Yeah, I was assistant director. Eventually, Heinz Heck came in from Munich, where he had been also assistant director. Heinz’s younger brother was immediately appointed assistant director, as I recall, in Munich when Heinz left to come to Catskill. He had been hired two years before he actually came over. Read More
I rode down in a truck to bring their airborne furniture and so on. I was introduced to Heinz Heck as the assistant director, and his eyebrows went up. He didn’t say anything. And later when we became friends, he explained to me, “You were introduced as assistant director. Are… Read More
You were assistant director?… Read More
Well, from running the feed wagon, I eventually, became his assistant. And the second year I was there, an imported person came in, Heinz Heck. Heinz was the son of the previous director of the Berlin Zoo. He came in from working in the, the, I’m sorry. Read More
How did that come about?… Read More
Roland, was he hands on? Was he there a lot?… Read More
He was there a lot. He knew his animals well, very well. We had a problem with kangaroos having mouth problems, and, gradually, he got them changed in diet and got them eating a much better diet, and solved the mouth infections. Read More
Now you went higher in the organization, didn’t you?… Read More
Then he bought more and started a whole collection of wild horses. It probably was the largest collection of Przewalski’s horses in the world among the horses. Boy, boy, they were tough customers. (chuckles) You never walked into a pen with those animals alone. They would come after you. The… Read More
Ah, boy. He was a fabulous man. Elderly. Very, very knowledgeable about wild animals. He had a lot of property. The Catskill Game Farm was hundreds of acres. He originated a horse section, a barn, six or eight chain link fenced corrals, and roughly eight indoor stalls. The Przewalski’s horses… Read More
The farm itself was approximately 1,000 acres in the Catskill Mountains. 200 of those acres were open to the public, but the other animals, like the Przewalski horses, were kept in their own quarters. A large quantity of deer and antelope were in the park and some legitimate zoo animals. Read More
And the number that I remember, the first winter, we had to consolidate animals together to keep ’em warm in the Catskill Mountains. We had a barn roughly a 100-feet long and 50-feet wide. That barn held male, only male, red kangaroos. A red kangaroo stands six-feet tall in a… Read More
Now they say that Roland Lindemann, your boss who hired you, was quite an unusual gentleman. Read More
Do you have any good Roland Lindemann stories?… Read More
Tell me about your boss at the zoo. Who hired you?… Read More