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Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 238

A Mexican moccasin. I caught one of those in there. That scared the shit out of me, because they’re very deadly. Neurotoxic, they’re very neurotoxic. Then, but we had… I finally began to come around. And there was a medical doctor, excuse me, a professor. He was a biochemist at… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 235

It’s a sacred, it’s part of the Mayan group there. He wanted me to go down there. And he knew, I mean, I needed, I was in deep depression. So Ernest and I went down there. We caught iguanas, we caught some snakes, and we helped with the… First, they… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 234

I mean, he kept moving up. Finally, he was our public services manager, and did a good job. And we made a lot, he made us a lot of money. Ernest went to, was at Fort Worth. When I left there, he… I went to Chámeza as part of a…… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 236

The first consult with State Department was an amateur. And he went up there and dredged, discovered it, so to speak. So they pumped the thing, it went down about 10 feet, it was about 40 feet in deep. And then next day they kept pumping, and it went down… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 233

They were either winos, or… Cooks are very, very undependable in certain respects. And so I ran this ad and Ernest applied. He was about 18, I think. He said, “Well, what do you want to know?” And I said, “Well, I’ll tell you what, I want a hamburger. Now… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 232

Well, I was in deep depression for about, after leaving Fort Worth Zoo. And in fact, what’s his… Ernest Hagler, I had hired him as a hamburger cook. He’s told this story many times, but I ran the ad on it, we were gonna take over the public services in… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 231

How did that happen?… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 229

Now, you went from there to the Portland Zoo?… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 230

Yes. Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 226

So that was a, Mertens was a problem. But he did excellent work. I learned a lot from the man. But I’d never hire him again. He came to Oklahoma City and wanted a job. No, no. Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 228

I left in ’87. So I was, 47 years old. Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 227

When you left Fort Worth, how old were you?… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 223

Then he went to a new zoo, was it in Charleston, South Carolina?… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 225

North Carolina. North Carolina? That’s where he went. Well, he built a new zoo there. And then he had some kind of a problem there, and he got fired. And then he became an animal dealer. He worked for Bill Chase. And Bill Chase even said, you know, “You gotta… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 224

Is that where?… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 220

He gave me ideas and all that. But everybody who he had worked for just was so, “You don’t want to hire that guy.” And finally, it was a double-edged sword, I think. Mertens was very good with reptiles. He really was excellent. And he was good with people, to… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 221

Then little things would start happening. You know about palace revolutions. John wanted to, he wanted to move up. He wanted his own zoo. He and Charles Campbell sort of got together, and that wasn’t good for me. There wasn’t anything that was any big deal. That was a role… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 222

I’ve forgotten the name of it. I’ll remember it in a minute. But he went down there as director. And then he went to a zoo, but he had a problem there. He didn’t last there long. Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 217

He was at Catskill and he was at Indianapolis, I think. And somewhere in Indiana. Frank, his background in zoos was circuses. His wife was an acrobat, I think. And so they come from different places, but he’d gotten some excellent experience at the Catskill, very good experience. And this… Read More

Interview 24641 – Caption Index: 218

I think I’m a pretty good teacher. If you really want to learn the business, and you came and worked for me, by god, we’d give you a run for your money. And we didn’t charge you any tuition, you know, it was free. And along with the title. John… Read More

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