Okay, when you were that young zoo veterinarian, we may have touched on it, but when you were that young zoo veterinarian and you came up, who were you calling to say, “Oh, I’ve never,” other zoo veterinarians or other veterinarians that weren’t in the zoo business?… Read More
No, mostly other zoo veterinarians because somebody that wasn’t in the zoo business wouldn’t have the answer to it for me. I mean, now if it was a particular thing, I knew what it was, you know then, you know, if it’s something involving reproduction, I might be talking to… Read More
We don’t have to, we’re gonna ship this animal to another zoo, but we don’t necessarily have to to anesthetize it to do that.” You can, you know, get it to be trained to go into a crate pretty easily. It’s gonna take a while but, so there are other… Read More
Got any advice for me?… Read More
(laughing) Yeah, I’d say go make sure you’re going to a zoo that has another veterinarian that you can learn from. Don’t do what I did, get there and have now nobody else to talk to about it. Read More
What issues caused you the most concern during your career, and how do you see the future regarding these concerns?… Read More
I think sometimes you needed to step back and say, “Well wait a minute, isn’t there another way of doing it?… Read More
Well, initially I think funding was a concern. We did deal with that, and I mean, fortunately the St. Louis Zoo now is well funded, including endowments and things, on various activities of the zoo. So funding, I think could be an issue in some institutions. You know knowledge of… Read More
Well, I guess like I said before, people come to be entertained, but I think a zoo changes people’s attitudes towards animals. More so than than seeing it on TV, or seeing a movie. That’s helpful also, certainly to see, you know, to see things like “Wild Kingdom” type of… Read More
How do you respond to that?… Read More
Oh, we’ve talked about that, I apologize. Read More
What would you say to those people who still believe that zoos are nothing more than places where animals are caged?… Read More
You just flip the ear open, put some, you know, have the hose going with warm water, that vein stands out and you can draw a blood sample. I mean, anybody can do that. Doesn’t have to be somebody who’s skilled. The keepers could do it, and did it. And… Read More
We worked with the Springfield Zoo that did have a bull elephant, that they used to collect semen from, and they agreed. We would know the week that the elephant was gonna cycle and we’d say, “We don’t know what day, but we know it’s gonna be this week.” And,… Read More
What would you say are some of the most dramatic or important changes you’ve witnessed in animal management?… Read More
What’s your view regarding the hot topic of zoos maintaining elephants in their collection?… Read More
Well, I think that’s a good question, because you know, it is of course, an animal that does require a lot of input. It’s expensive to keep them. You got a large area that you have to have. You know it’s, today again, you know, there was a lot of… Read More
You didn’t go in with a lot of stuff, but you went in with the elephants all the time. And it’s such a big animal that it just, you know, even accidentally you get hurt by getting in their way. And so I think the movement to protected contact is… Read More
What are, in your opinion?… Read More
Well they usually, in say a fairly good-size zoo, they’re not the ones day to day taking care of the animals. The keepers are doing that, so they gotta be able to take care of the keepers. They’ve got to be the, and there they need to be good people… Read More