On staff they were. The park district wasn’t as involved with, but as long as it fit within our budget, you know, that was their concern of how we fit it in. It worked, and then they were involved with it. They bought onto it when we went through the… Read More
To decide what animal species are gonna be part of the program met with what you were envisioning?… Read More
When you were director, was the zoo part of the species survival plan?… Read More
And was it hard to implement at your zoo?… Read More
We were. Yep. Read More
Do you think that zoo education has made any headway in educating the public in the differences between the wellbeing of a creature individual and the survival of a species?… Read More
I think so. I hope so. Yeah, I do. I think people are more accepting and maybe it’s because there’s just so much more out there with media coverage. That people are seeing bigger pieces. It’s not just this individual animal. Although I mean there’s gonna be a few. On… Read More
But I think in the big picture, as people grow, they understand there’s more to it than the individual. Read More
We did not. Read More
As far as a sister zoo, you mean more like something in a different country?… Read More
They were very focused on home base. You know, they wanted to improve here. We hadn’t gotten them into that next level yet. Which I think should have or will be coming along because of what we did build with the new part. It’s a process. Read More
We did not ’cause honestly, we just weren’t that big yet. We weren’t that involved in offsite that we could support anything like that. You know, ’cause you would think you would want to go to each other’s places and then share animals and do… We just hadn’t gotten to… Read More
And maybe a little something about zoos in the future. Read More
Did the Peoria Zoo have a sister zoo relationship?… Read More
And do you think that’s important?… Read More
You know, this person liked pelicans. And this person liked something or other. Read More
And you had to explain, you know, it’s great to get them in, but the ongoing costs were not – you’re gonna have to raise a lot more money to keep something like that. So it was a training process, a give and take on some, so we tried at… Read More
Why don’t we do this?… Read More
How did personalities or individuals influence the direction or the development the zoo went in?… Read More
For the most part they let us go, and we involved them in the process of what we were gonna build with the new zoo. So we got their involvement from the beginning. Although we kind of tried to, you know, sell them on why this might be better if… Read More