And I started at the same time, Randy Rka started who be, who stayed there and had a long career there. And the two of us together, you know, were paired together. He was the farm boy. I was a city boy. I I, I had the degree, he had… Read More
And he, and I said, it’s Charlie Schroeder. You know, I got a picture of me standing next to him. We’re about the same size. You know, Charlie was even shorter than me. And just, that was, that was special. You know, he’d tell, he’d tell his stories. And then… Read More
At that point, I married a, a woman that was in vet school that didn’t work out because we, it just, the logistics of it didn’t work out. So, and well, first of all, now my dream came true. I’m a keeper at the San Diego Safari Park Zoo. Safari… Read More
No, I didn’t have a choice, you know, that, that, that was, was open. But I had Safari Park experience didn’t seem to matter. The other two were from inside the organization. Three of it. They had three new positions. And it was funny ’cause I went in to see… Read More
I go, well, well, I guess I already committed. But he said, just hang around for a week. He didn’t tell me that was a new position. And so it came. And so he got that position and, and I started, I I started at the Safari Park that, that… Read More
I’m gonna go back there. And he said, what if, what in if if in another week I can guarantee you a position, would you stay?… Read More
How did you decide Wild Animal Park as opposed to the zoo or that’s just what was open?… Read More
So this is 1979 to 1982. You’re at the Wild Animal Park. How did you, so you got the job. Read More
So I went up there and they hired me on the spot. ’cause I had experience at Warner Brothers Jungle Habitat. And I worked up there for three months. I think the pay was like $3 and 25 cents an hour or so. Just paid enough for my, my, my… Read More
Jim Dolan hired me. He, it was Teamsters Union and they didn’t wanna hire anybody from the outside. And they wanted me to work in a restaurant first. And I refused to do that. I said, oh, I’m gonna work at Lion Country. And, but they made an exception for… Read More
The reason I went to Lion Country Safari is I, I got my master’s at Rutgers. I was in a PhD program. And I said, the heck with this, I, I just, I, I’m just do, I did a master’s thesis and just got out after two years. And I… Read More
What did it offer you?… Read More
Why did you take this job? What type of place was it?… Read More
Oh, Toto. Forgive me, Jane Goodall. ’cause she would not approve. But back then, you know, they had young animals and they had a, a chimp that was in the nursery that was about two years old, Toto. And which is Swahili means child. So Toto was Warner Brothers arranged… Read More
I may have just talked to ’em for a while until we had to go on the show. So it was, it was pretty, it was, it was different. And it was, you know, you did what you did What I, at that point, I, I always volunteered, whatever it… Read More
He was always on tv. He just went out in his little cart, got the banana, the, the guy, the, the, the, the host of the, of the show. And he was just a cute chimp. He was very well behaved, but he really enjoyed our outings. You know, he’d… Read More
And you had a unique relationship with the chimpanzee. Can you talk about that?… Read More
And so it was, it was pretty interesting. So That’s 1972 to 1976, Right? That when you, When you’re working there. Yeah, that’s, I went to Africa during that time and then I went, and then I got into grad school at the end of that. Read More
Now they, they had nothing to do with the animals. But I went in and I talked to the guy and he was very sympathetic. He was very nice. He goes, look, this is not what we do, but, you know, we’ll put your name in. You know, I, I… Read More
You know, that, that summer, the next summer they made me the, the vet tech. And then the next summer I was a dolphin trainer. So I just, I did a little bit of everything, but it was, it was a part-time summer job at Warner Brothers Jungle Habitat that… Read More