And she basically started the Bonobo, BCBI, the Bonobo Conservation Program in Africa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And I think she’s still involved, but grew it up to the point where the Society went beyond the Society’s capability. I think World Wildlife Fund runs it now, but,… Read More
I forgot how many gorillas. But, so that’s how the program started. And it became, and Gay Reinartz is the reason that the bonobo conservation, the bonobo conservation project got underway. I will say two of the keepers who worked with the Bonobos learned about a training program in Texas… Read More
And at that point, I don’t know how many zoos had bonobos, but we got a breeding group of bonobos and, how many gorillas?… Read More
Milwaukee got started in that because when Dr. Boese was director of the zoo, the Wassenaar Zoo in the Netherlands, yeah, Wassenaar Zoo was closing and they were selling their animal collection. So they bought, Dr. Boese, the Zoological Society raised the money and they bought gorillas, and brought good… Read More
But can you talk about them in a specific way?… Read More
Can you talk about its general history and how Milwaukee got started in that?… Read More
So for example, the Milwaukee Zoo had a bonobo conservation project. Right. Read More
Luckily people around me did and so I was able to work it out. We got, the National Zoo had a young elephant, Shanthi, who came a few years before, I guess, I started, an African elephant and then we had the Jayathu experience. So, no, but when I came… Read More
Did you go to see the elephant in Sri Lanka?… Read More
No, they did that, Boese went with Bruce and the vet at the time before I started. Moola was already at the zoo when I started. Now Milwaukee has been involved in conservation programs throughout the years. You’ve been involved in some of those conservation programs. Mm-hmm. Read More
Well, the elephant exhibit was built in the late 50s, early 60s, so it was basically a concrete exhibit with bars in the front and we had African elephants and Asian elephants. It was very similar to the exhibit I had at the National Zoo. Read More
(Elizabeth sighs) Elephants, no, we had elephants, we had worked, Ed Gould had hired Don Meyer at the National Zoo to work with the keepers in setting up an elephant program. And Don was from Milwaukee, so he was also the consultant at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Elephants are a… Read More
Do you have any thoughts about how they were kept or what you might want to do or?… Read More
And did they stay long term at the zoo?… Read More
What was the elephant exhibit like at the Milwaukee Zoo and how did you feel about having elephants at the zoo?… Read More
We had them long term. They had the visiting ones, I think, in ’84, ’85, and then we got them, I don’t remember what year, but we got them and they were there for several years at the Milwaukee Zoo. Read More
No, koalas weren’t difficult to maintain. The biggest problem with koalas was that the, is eucalyptus is the only thing they eat. And you don’t grow eucalyptus in Milwaukee either. So we contracted with, oh, Bill Flo- Bob Frueh, yeah, Bob Frueh was wonderful. I loved working with Bob. And… Read More
Were they difficult to maintain?… Read More
If you couldn’t get, if there was an airline strike or, you know, you got your regular shipments and if you didn’t get your regular shipments, we’d come down and get some from Lincoln Park with their koalas. And I think that was finally, I mean, to provide the eucalyptus… Read More
Were the koalas as much of a headache as the pandas had been?… Read More