Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 605
What issues would you like to see zoos address in the future?… Read More
What issues would you like to see zoos address in the future?… Read More
What changes have you seen during your years in the zoo field regarding visitor attitudes and administration at the national level?… Read More
And I think that the key to zoos surviving in whatever mode they’re gonna survive in should encompass those qualities, which you looked for when you did your accreditation. Read More
Could you give us your thoughts on how best to deal with these types of groups?… Read More
Well, in my zoo lifetime, I never really had to confront that problem of people that wanted to get rid of zoos. Now, I’d have to say in some cases I’ve seen a lot of zoos that should be done away with, quite frankly. And so I would have to… Read More
Well, the other was ISS, I know he was behind that. But he’s a genius. He really is, he’s a genius. And he has done more for zoos, I think, than any other single individual. Marlon did his thing. Never met Dr. Hornaday. All I really know about him at… Read More
I think they need to look in their backyard. And I think every zoo should do this large, small, what have you. And there are opportunities out there for… Well, for saving or retarding the inexorable march of development, of industrial development, of pollution, of all those terrible things. And… Read More
We’ve used so many pounds of pesticides and fertilizers that’s gone down into the water table and all. Really, our wildlife is I think in a terrible state. And I don’t think it’s gonna get any better. It will in pockets, but, I think it’s in trouble, I think it’s… Read More
Then somebody else gets a reticulated python without the retics, or something, then that’s becomes the fad. We’ve had our fads in zoos, really. But this is one in herpeculture. It is not really herpetological. The genetics are not, they’re not really being studied. It’s trial and error. There are… Read More
But in your opinion, what can a small, or medium sized municipal zoo do today to get involved in wildlife conservation nationally or internationally?… Read More
Sure, right now, herpetology has taken, or not herpetology, herpaculture has taken a strange direction where they’ve done great at breeding reptiles, that is a plus. I think the herpetologists may have done better at raising their animals than the aviculturists, except for some common species, and then some mammals. Read More
Compared to when I started? Well. Many zoo directors do not have a good training in the arts, and sciences, and even in zoology. Somehow, at least the ones I’ve spoken to don’t demonstrate that to me. And I, maybe they just, maybe I’m missing it. Maybe I’ve talked to… Read More
Any recommendations or words of advice for the next generation of herpetologists?… Read More
I never got an animal in my zoo that I didn’t know everything that was possible to know about that animal based on the literature available, and based on watching it. Now, you are, and you have had a big love of herpetology. Yes. Read More
So they don’t have to say, “Oh god, now we have to listen to this lecture.” You don’t want that, and zoos can do that. People love zoos, they really, they even love bad zoos. They’ve loved bad zoos for years, and there’s a lot of them still out there. Read More
What skillset qualities does a zoo director need today as compared to when you started?… Read More
What made you a good zoo director?… Read More
I’ve worked hard. I really worked hard at school. I worked hard in the field doing the field work I did in herpetology. I haven’t told you about my red wolf. I think I caught the last red wolf in Texas, the last survivor. And it died from something, dog,… Read More
What made me, well, assuming that you’re right, that I was a good zoo director. I think I was willing to take risks. I was willing to do things differently, not be caught in the rut. I think I did have some good ideas. I think I still have some,… Read More
Have you ever seen it?… Read More