They’re one of the few elephants in zoos that know what the wild is. And yet they still acclimated, and they’re like, yeah, we know where the food is. Here’s the food, here’s the water. This is where we want to be. So that’s very important. But I think that,… Read More
I’ve seen this. I went to Africa one year and had the good fortune of being there three weeks. And so we came through in the Yoko Vangogh Delta part of that time. Read More
We came back three weeks later and the elephants were in the exact same spot. They had not moved. So elephants move for three reasons. They move for water, they move for food, they move for sex. Three reasons. So if you provide ’em water, food, and sex, if they… Read More
So we came through early in the trip, the Yoko Vangogh Delta, and there was a herd of elephants in this beautiful, lush, green area, and some of ’em very recognizable, ’cause they had tears in their ears or whatever, right?… Read More
Elephants are absolutely wonderful creatures. One of my favorite animals. I have a lot of favorite animals in the zoo. Elephants are up there, obviously, ’cause Pittsburgh has a fabulous elephant program. I think that the key, the zoos do need to continue to maintain elephants. And there’s some groups… Read More
I mean, I tried to take vacation on a cruise ship, and I look up and there’s elephants across the theater canopy, all elephants. They’re the most recognized animals in the world. And so they’re really kind of a cornerstone for education, and for programming, for conservation. And so it’s… Read More
Some of the happiest people live in one room houses. All you have to do is look at some of the cultures that are very happy, who have one room houses, all live together in the same house, and yet do fine, do wonderfully, love each other, have loving relationships,… Read More
So that was one of the hardest things to manage, because people in the world, that’s the worst thing about social media is people can say whatever they want to say under the cloak of anonymity. And so people say stuff you shouldn’t say, you have no right to say. Read More
I mean, I’m sure that she wasn’t in any shape to bear that. So we had to go out and we had to tailor our message, and make sure that we went out there and were clear that yes, a horrible accident had happened, but we weren’t going to go… Read More
Well, given your experience with elephants, what’s your view regarding zoos maintaining elephants, and how it should be done correctly?… Read More
And I’m like, how could you do that?… Read More
They were just vicious. And we had to shut down our Facebook page completely because people were so vicious and against her, not against the zoo, against her. Read More
It’s bad enough, but to be vilified in the world?… Read More
I mean, you can let the kid go for two seconds on a busy street and they dart out into traffic. I mean, you try everything you can do to keep a child safe, but if you’re a parent, you know that there are times when a split second something… Read More
I thought there was glass there.” But we, as parents go, but there, for the grace of God, go I, right?… Read More
And several our exhibits before she got there did have glass, right?… Read More
We had had a million people the year before and, gosh, 850, 900,000 the year before go through that exhibit. Never had an issue. And, it was just a sad situation. Very, very sad. The challenge there that you don’t think you’re gonna have, well, there’s a lot of challenge… Read More
And so the little boy stood up there, and then he put his hands up like this and she thought he was leaning on glass, but still, he was still four foot up on a graphic. But she thought he was leaning on the glass. And that’s what she said… Read More
And we had a walkway, a deck above the painted dog exhibit, 14 feet high. And on that exhibit it had slanted graphics so that people wouldn’t put their kids up there, wouldn’t sit their kids up there, because it was slanted backwards so you wouldn’t do that. And it… Read More
We talk about the things you do as a zoo director that you never think you would do. Well, I’ve had the great fortune of talking to the coroner twice about the results of necropsies. And I’ve had the sad job of telling a wife that she needs to go… Read More