architects have common sense. That’s what my philosophy was, if you take anybody that designs a hospital should have to go work with an animal, should have to clean cages, should have to shift an animal, should, you know, be around and work and see what the problems are, and… Read More
I knew my question now was around, you talked about the hospital at Front Royal, you’ve had the opportunity to build two hospitals, when you built the hospital at Front Royal, was that because at the time you were doing it, you knew you were going over there, or you… Read More
Well we were told the vet, when the Smithsonian acquired Front Royal, it was the old Calvary Remount station for the Army where they bred horses and mules for World War I, and it had a great facility, and we had 3,000 acres, and it was touted as going to… Read More
So by building the hospital when we did, when we probably had a little bit more money than we do now, it allowed us to grow into a facility that now I think meets the needs of the facility there. Read More
I had one technician, and we had a nice hospital there, one of the hospitals I built. So we had a good facility, adequate equipment, and we had enough traffic from going from Front Royal to Washington DC with various people that I could take blood samples, get ’em into… Read More
What do you think the veterinarian’s role should be in conservation since Front Royal is kind of a conservation place?… Read More
Well, I think the veterinarian’s role is multifaceted, because the veterinarian I think should probably, one of the major roles that usually people think about is the person that you know is evaluating the health, and the animals and keeping the animals alive, and doing, you know, finding diseases, and… Read More
And why, we’ll go right into it then, why did you transition to Chief of Veterinary Services Conservation and Research Center at Front Royal after that?… Read More
no veterinarian full-time at Front Royal. I used to take care of NZP and Front Royal from National Zoo and take care of both collections with just an intern myself. And now there’s about five veterinarians covering that area with about a third of the animals there. So in 1994,… Read More
And did you have a staff there, aside from yourself?… Read More
No. Read More
Were you able to do anything in this time that you thought was at least, “Hey, I got time to be significant in this area, didn’t ever have the time” or not?… Read More
I think it was in Africa part of that time. Okay. Read More
Senior research veterinarian and clinical consultant, you did that ’93 to ’94, is that just a different title or is that a different position?… Read More
a different position where I was kind of sidelined a bit through some of the, what I would call shenanigans that were being done and they didn’t know what to do with me and then I went to Front Royal right after that. Read More
So this time as senior research veterinarian was, you weren’t doing day-to-day things?… Read More
I mean they could be zoo-related or science-related, but are things that interest Mitch Bush. I was so totally committed and immersed for so many years in zoo medicine, that about my only external activity was contact sports of rugby and lacrosse, that were my … And of course, you… Read More
When you’ve traveled internationally, what people have made an impression on you within the zoo field or the medical field that you’ve dealt with?… Read More
Well, South Africa where I’ve done quite a bit of work, one of the true friends and colleagues that I have there was Lynn Coley, who is the zoo veterinarian at the Johannesburg Zoo, who actually got me started in Africa, and I met some unique people at Kruger National… Read More
Well it could be anybody. And they don’t have to be veterinarians. Oh my gosh. maybe some that jump to mind that maybe, you know, helped you in a unique way or made an impression on you in a wacky way or … But just maybe some of the people… Read More