Nope. I was able to do that, so we brought in people. You know, we… Through the park district and the human resources, they were in charge of sending out the notices. And then they would be involved and sitting in to make sure that we did the interviewing process… Read More
At the time were there amenities for visitors at the zoo?… Read More
Were you able to hire your own curator?… Read More
‘Cause you had left that position, or did they hire someone?… Read More
Were you able to move forward?… Read More
Well by the time I was director we did get up to three or four, eventually five full-time, but we supplemented with a lot of part-time or seasonal keepers. And yes, it was more difficult to get staff because it’s always hard to expand your budget and probably 40 to… Read More
And how difficult was it getting more staff?… Read More
We did eventually get, we built a sea lion pool. And we would do “sea lion shows,” but we always tried to put the conservation bent to it of why we’re training them and making them do certain things was in order to help with their health. And show natural… Read More
You had still – you talk about keeper talks, you still had only two keepers?… Read More
Mmmhm. Read More
So they understood a little bit better instead of just rushing through the zoo for a good time before the kids start crying. Let’s get some information into them. That’s all. You mentioned the Zoomobile. Read More
How important do you think, or did you do anything with ambassador animals in your education program?… Read More
Oh yeah. We started… Obviously the ones that we went out in the community. You know, we had a skunk and a rabbit and snakes. Some owls. There were some injured animals that the zoo would take in, so we would use those as props. Eventually we did some keeper… Read More
Well some of my priorities were given to me from those above. And how you had to fit into the system. I think that was my hardest part was learning how to work within a system. But I really wanted to expand the educational part of it. I knew as… Read More
What did the education department consist of when you started as a director?… Read More
Oh, as director. I think when I was director there was an education curator. They had hired an education curator. And we had some volunteers. So we did expand and tried to get some more volunteers. Some that helped in the animal department, but some that also then helped in… Read More
I just wanted to keep expanding it. And. Read More
Did you have any priorities that you want to try and start with now that you’re the boss?… Read More
Did you have any kind of philosophy about zoo management that now that you’re the boss you wanted to move forward?… Read More
I think more than anything I wanted to continue the flow of what it was and make the zoo a little bit more prominent. Within the Park district system. I just didn’t want it to be. A little side piece. I was more invested in and had a passion for. Read More