You know, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to bite my lip because, you know, dad’s talking to the kids. Look at that giraffe and he’s looking at a spotted hyena. Well, it’s kinda like, well, dad thinks it’s a giraffe and the two year old thinks… Read More
Well, it’s more than, I mean, first of all, you get to see animals that you’d never get to see. You realize that it’s a big wide world. And I believe every zoo should have a giraffe. I mean, if you’re a big zoo, you need a giraffe. You need… Read More
I don’t know whether you wanna say we do we need zoos. We have zoos. They will be here and I think they should be run the best way they can. And I think they serve a purpose. Everybody remembers going to the zoo as a kid. And it’s usually… Read More
Do we still need zoos?… Read More
Just by being there, you’re making a difference. They’re not aspiring, they’re already doing it. Just keep your eyes open, make suggestions, know the people to make suggestions to and just keep track. Sometimes it’s just, ask if you can make, you know, maybe not even asking a change. Make… Read More
And a lot of people, and it changed because it wasn’t until 2005 that we started hiring keepers who were not residents of the city of Milwaukee, I mean, of Milwaukee County. I mean, one keeper, I did a keeper exchange. One of my keepers went to Kansas City for… Read More
I had a keeper at the National Zoo who wanted to be a keeper in San Francisco. Well, he had to go to San Francisco to take the test. You couldn’t do it if you, you know, from a distance, all this has changed, ’cause everything is online now. Read More
But that would’ve, that was my advice back in the day. (chuckles) Any suggestions for those aspiring who are already in the profession to make a difference in the zoo world?… Read More
You had a certain type of degree. Read More
What type of degree would you recommend to someone aspiring?… Read More
There’s so many different ones. Well, and it’s changed so much. I mean, I picked animal science, ’cause I wanted to work with, specifically with animals. And nobody really cared what my degree was in. It didn’t matter that it was animal science and not zoology. I mean, and pick… Read More
Well, parents will always get upset, ’cause I would tell them, you need to get a college degree. Don’t worry about grades. Your grades don’t matter. You need the degree. I mean, ’cause we’ve hired people who had C’s and D’s, but they were interested in the work. Get experience… Read More
What do you tell a young person in college, as you were, who has what appears to be a sincere and realistic interest in a zoo career study, what work, read what?… Read More
It can be working as a vet, it can be working with animal control. And I had to keeper at the National Zoo who left keeping to work animal control. And in Washington, DC, which was a much harder job than being a zoo keeper at National Zoo, but she… Read More
Oh no, it was, the job was what you made it. I mean, I made sure that everybody knew what I was doing. I mean, we had meetings, well, and Andy is the one who came up with the sterilization idea. And we went to Bruce and said, well, we… Read More
I liked, the deer project was a lot of fun. I think that was good and no, Cornell later. They tried to get SIU interested and they weren’t interested in doing it. But someone from Cornell contacted me after I retired and he was doing a project up in Cornell… Read More
What would you say is your proudest accomplishment that you succeeded in doing?… Read More
I mean, we did a presentation at St. Louis at a wildlife conference for all the local wildlife guys. And it’s the only time I’ve ever been to a conference where I just sailed into the ladies’ room and there’s a line to get into the men’s room. The only… Read More
I mean, it’s not really a, it’s not really the department, I mean, it was the police department doing it. I mean, George was wonderful to work with, (laughing) but out trapping deer was not what he wanted to do. So yeah, so that was my big research project. And… Read More
Did you feel that when you were, and the deer as an example, did you feel that when you were a curator, that within the scope of your job, you had freedom to kinda define your job and decide what you wanted to do or was your job very structured?… Read More