Because I walked the grounds at least three times a week. And so I was out there walking around, and so people get very comfortable with talking to the leader, because you’re just out there. And everybody called me Barbara, nobody called me Dr. Baker. The only people called me… Read More
If we can accomplish half of them, we’re doing better than most of the zoos if we can get that done. So, I’m sorry your particular idea didn’t get taken, but don’t make that so that you can’t give us another idea, because you need to give us another idea. Read More
Absolutely. Rounds were a hundred percent important. Did it every single day that I could. Sometimes I’d have meetings or weather, weather didn’t permit it in Pittsburgh, but we did have some challenging snow storms on occasion. But that’s one of the most fun parts of the job, to get… Read More
Was that important?… Read More
So I talked to everybody, I got some great ideas from the laborers, I got some great ideas from the custodians who cleaned the toilets. Everybody, I mean, that was the fun thing about Pittsburgh, too. We fostered a culture that everybody could give us an idea. One time I… Read More
How involved were you in the day-to-day activities and hands-on when you were director?… Read More
And did you ever do rounds?… Read More
You talked about that you asked lots of questions. Read More
The people that know the animals are born in the zoo, this is the only environment they know. So some animal rights people think we should take all the zoo animals and take ’em back to Africa or wherever they come from, and release ’em out into the wild, and… Read More
And it wasn’t that we weren’t providing him an adequate space, but he liked the grass on the other side of the fence, you know?… Read More
So I think that what people miss when they’re talking about animal rights and criticizing zoos is, often they’re looking at where we were 20, 30, 40 years ago, and not looking at the fact that, wait a minute, we’ve grown, we’ve learned, we’ve evolved. We’re getting better and better… Read More
So, I think that’s really important. When you look at animal husbandry, the animal rights folks want to tell us that we’re not doing the best we can by our animals in our care. But in reality, nobody gets in the zoo business to harm the animals. Read More
We all want the animals to be healthy and have a wonderful life in their exhibits and in their environment. And so, but shit happens, too. Animals don’t read the book. So animals run into the wall, or animals get their foot stuck in this, and that, and the other. Read More
Nobody gets in the zoo business to, who gets in the zoo business to hurt the animals?… Read More
You don’t wanna use the words right and wrong, because if I say I’m right, I’m implying that you’re wrong. But you might not be wrong. You have your opinion, I have my opinion. So it’s not that you’re right, it’s not that I’m right and you’re wrong. We just… Read More
And that is that you should never use the words “right and wrong.” You know why?… Read More
As a matter of fact, that’s something that one of my mentors taught me years ago. And they’re so, so right about it. Read More
You talked about it to animal welfare, and what does that mean?… Read More
Animal welfare is different than animal rights. Animal welfare, when you’re talking about animal welfare, you’re talking about the best possible way that you can take care of the animals in your care, and you’re not necessarily talking about space. You’re talking about how to best care for that animal… Read More
It’s kind of the same thing. Animal husbandry is about how you take care of the animals. And we have manuals and everything else on how to take care of the animals in each of our zoo areas. So you wanna be very cognizant, and constantly evolving, constantly learning, and… Read More