I like the megavertebrates, which are the rhinos, hippos, giraffe, elephants, just because they present such unique challenges. And I generally, I think I like hoofstock, I don’t like primates per se, reptiles and birds, they’re just there. But big cats can be interesting, but I would probably put the… Read More
Yeah, we didn’t have any night staff, so we had quite a few menagerie at our house at a period of time, we had quite a few red pandas that my wife raised, we had some maned wolves that my wife took care of, mutt jacks, Bactrian camel calves, wildebeest… Read More
Would you say zoos today are potentially doing enough to manage their animal collections regarding medical husbandry groups?… Read More
I think it depends on the zoo, and the medical staff, and the facilities that they have. And that’s just a hard question to ask, generally I would think it’s probably better, because there’s more veterinarians full-time in zoos, and hopefully most of these veterinarians are practicing, you know, good… Read More
Is there differences in drug dosages, or how it’s applied or — Of course there is, in free-ranging animals, you don’t have ’em as confined, and it takes a lot longer, higher dosages, and longer for the induction period, generally speaking. We found also with metodine, which is an alpha… Read More
You mentioned that, well did you ever have the occasion to bring animals home to take care of them?… Read More
Oh, from the zoo?… Read More
I hate to keep going back to anesthesia and preventative medicine, I think, and hopefully, you know, just a philosophy of the proactive approach to a problem. In other words, I’d rather be shot down for trying, than have people say, “Well he didn’t get around to getting the animal… Read More
And then speaking of anesthesia then, is there a significant difference in your opinion, and in difficulty in working with animals in the field, and in captivity with anesthesia?… Read More
Do you have to be acutely aware?… Read More
You mentioned earlier that in your job description there was a sentence or a paragraph that said ultimately the zoo veterinarian had the final word on medical things, and then you said “They took that out.” So how did that occur?… Read More
Well, I think that was after Ted Reid left, and you know, people were just saying, “Well if I’m director, I have the final say”, and da da da da, and you know, “‘Cause I’m in charge”, and I ran into that at ABC, when I was doing some work… Read More
What would you say was the most significant change you implemented in the care of animals?… Read More
Well, I think the initial parts, and … Before we started answering questions of just not knowing, and the information not being there, and we know that it should be there, and that’s I think what stimulated me to go ahead, and try to find some answers, and ask people,… Read More
What was your philosophy about dealing, and having relationships with the staff, the curators, people above you, that you had to answer to?… Read More
Well, it’s my philosophy that it was my job to make sure the animals were in good health, and that the situation they were displayed in was not gonna be harmful to them, or the people that were viewing them. And I usually was able to communicate that to the… Read More
And whether it was a personnel, or an animal, or you know, issues, but how did you deal with the negative?… Read More
Well I always thought that my job was better than working, so that was kind of the bottom line, that kind of was the thread to do it. I had certain outlets, and played contact sports, as I mentioned before, and took out some of my frustrations on that aspect. Read More
What were some of the frustrating times, as in being a veterinarian?… Read More
Again, I keep going back to anesthesia, the ability to do that, the evolution of new drugs, especially worming drugs that have greatly enhanced, you know, our preventive medicine, but unfortunately now many of the parasites are becoming resistant to it, so we have to go to other ways of… Read More