You gotta lead. I mean, if you don’t lead any other time, that’s when you gotta lead. And so you have to be able to assure them that everything’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay. This is a horrible accident, it’s a terrible thing, wasn’t our plan, but we’re… Read More
And so we were able to, with food, entice the elephants to move away from the keeper. And we began CPR on the keeper then until the ambulance arrived. Then we had the elephants on the grounds. Now we’ve got, literally, it looks like, along the fence line above where… Read More
Now we like to say, and the animal rights groups particularly like to say, that animals have this long memory and will react because of whatever, abuse or whatever. But that’s not what happened here. The animal got frightened, the animal got scared, and unfortunately Mike fell underneath her, and… Read More
And so we were able to lead them all the way back around and into the building, and then continue to care for Mike at that point. So we were able to get the ambulance to Mike. Unfortunately, he passed away. He was not able to be saved due to… Read More
And right there at that point, there was a shiny cart, a plumber’s cart. And the plumber’s cart was parked at an angle into the pathway where they were gonna walk. And the plumber’s cart had on the back of it, it was an open cart with all kind of… Read More
He tried to get the elephant off of our keeper, but unfortunately it was too late. So now we’ve got an elephant and a baby elephant on the grounds, they’re halfway around the loop. The injured keepers laying there. And we’ve got staff converging on the site, ’cause people have… Read More
And when it hit that plumber’s cart, now they’re up against a hillside. Plumber’s cart’s parked up against a hillside, there’s a light pole there, there’s the elephant, the elephant spins, and when she spins, not meaning to, but when she spins, the keeper loses his footing, because it’s early… Read More
It’s interesting because, when you become a zoo director, and you become president and CEO of a zoo, the last thing you think you’re going to deal with is the loss of a human life. That’s really the last thing that you think you’re going to be dealing with. And… Read More
On this particular day we were walking our curator, and one of our elephant managers, elephant keepers, was walking a female elephant who we’d never had any incident, any problems whatsoever. And matter of fact, she was the animal we used for all of our photo ops, all of our… Read More
We didn’t just let ’em stand there, fat, and not got the tone and the muscles they needed. We walked ’em around the zoo. And so before the public came on board, we would walk the animals around the zoo. And so we’d walk ’em around the zoo. Our zoo’s… Read More
You had to have a lion, you had to have a tiger, in the old days. And now we specialize in different animals. So if you wanna see a certain species, then you go to a certain zoo, like Lincoln Park, that does a fabulous job with gorillas, or any… Read More
So just a fabulous, fabulous zoo without question. Afrikaans in Mexico, another fabulous zoo, new zoo. Very large spaces for the animals, beautiful exhibits. So a wonderful, wonderful facility. Point Defiance Zoo is a gorgeous zoo. The view is incredible, the animal collection is fabulous, but really they’re too numerous,… Read More
Can you give us an overview of each incident, and how did you handle it with your board, the press, your staff, and what lessons did you learn that you could pass on to a zoo director who may have a tragedy befall them at their zoo?… Read More
And where are they?… Read More
There’s a lot of fabulous zoos in the world. I mean, it’s just amazing to visit, especially if anybody has an interest in being a president CEO, visit as many zoos as you can, worldwide. I had the good fortune recently of being at the aquarium in Vietnam, and it… Read More
Are there any zoos in the world you particularly admire, and why?… Read More
How do you run outta time with 31 years, right?… Read More
Because with over a million visitors a year on peak season, in peak years, it was very, very difficult to get people in and out of the zoo with a two-lane road in and out. And it comes to a stoplight immediately after you get off that two-lane road. And… Read More
(Barbara laughs) Are there programs, as you think back, or exhibits that you would’ve implemented during your tenure, but just didn’t happen?… Read More
They all survived. They raised clouded leopard cubs, and lion cubs, and all kinds of things in the kitchen and in the dining room. So I think they had fun growing up. They still talk to me, so I think we’re pretty good. All seven of ’em. Read More