There needs to be a great deal of improvement in, in governance and that means often training those people in, in better governance. And then other things are more or less, we touched on a little earlier, is finding people to manage our institution, to manage our zoos that have… Read More
Oh yeah, yeah. Well I, I mean the big one is for, from, in my experience anyway has, has been financial in trying to make sure that you’ve always got the resources both to maintain and to build new exhibits. So that’s, that’s one concern. Another one is actually governance. Read More
Sorry, those same, What issues caused you the most concern during your career and how do you see the future regarding those same concerns you might had?… Read More
What issues caused you the most concern during your career and how do you see the future regarding those same concerns?… Read More
It’s not, it’s not in the numbers who are pro or against the zoo world. Read More
Hmm, I, I don’t think attitudes visitors have, have not changed in the proportions who are interested in support the zoo world versus those who are to one degree or another not happy about zoos. We talked about those extremists, there are a few of those, but it, they have… Read More
And then I made the huge mistake of moving to manage people. Big mistake for some people. And, and I think there’s a lot still in folks who don’t actually want to take that extra step, whether it’s from keeper, curator or curator up to up to zoo director. Read More
What changes have you seen during your years in the zoo field regarding visitor attitudes?… Read More
Well, I’m, I’m a little bit out of the current situation having, you know, been retired a few years ago, but I think it’s always been an issue as to, you know, are there, are there folks we’re talking here about animal curators, I presume there are always, there’s always… Read More
And very often what I’ve found, some of those younger folks initially don’t want to be until you start giving them or training them in ways that they build up a, a much broader ability to manage not just animal, the animal management is relatively simple. It’s the human management,… Read More
And what’s your take on how curators should be trained to do what’s expected?… Read More
Do you think that’s a problem?… Read More
And I think if you approach it like that and, and not just discard these folks, I mean that’s what’s happened a lot in the zoo world over the years. I think it’s better now in terms of building those relationships. But in the past there was a tendency to… Read More
Yes, absolutely. And, and we always, oh, I mean I, going back, gosh, for over 40 years when I was at London, when I was director at London and, and when I was senior vet before becoming director at London, was very much the height of the anti zoo lobby,… Read More
Did you find it important that you brought those people to your facility?… Read More
Anyway, it, it’s a complicated, very complicated world. Read More
Well, very, I I, what I’ve found is within the zoo, well, and indeed within the biological community, generally a lot of people cannot differentiate between what animal welfare and animal rights. And what you have is a, is a sort of spectrum of views. I’m talking about views from… Read More
And you create a partnership, you, you build so much of what we’re talking about is to do with relationships you build a relationship with, with those people. And what you find is that if you’ve got those folks on side or at least understanding what you are all about,… Read More
I still think that all zoos should have a broad mix of species. Now there’s a lot of emphasis today on keeping endangered species, and that’s certainly part of the portfolio, if you like, of any zoo that should have a focus on some species that need extra protection, let’s… Read More
Can you give us your thoughts on how best to deal with these groups?… Read More