Welfare, animal welfare. It’s like, oh… So in the sort of the last 15, 20 years, suddenly people are starting to talk about zoos, are talking about animal welfare. We went through a stage where there was a siege of the zoo world from the animal rights people, from the… Read More
And it’s probably the most sensible thing that was done because if you have a complaint about a zoo, instead of nobody responding to it, because nobody in the zoo world was geared to make a serious assessment of a zoo. And so people like Peter would go, Born Free… Read More
Since 1970s, and I started going to WAZA in 1980, that was my first WAZA conference. That’s 42, 43 years ago. When I first started going to WAZA and mixing with the International zoo community, I realized that… I wasn’t smart, but I realized that actually nobody had education officers… Read More
Then this was I started to put out World’s Zoo Conservation Strategy, zoo started to hire in conservation offices or whatever they call them. And they sort of started angling their messages, their graphics, their design to be more conservation-orientated. And then recently, in the last 15, 20 years, suddenly… Read More
He’s nuts. So as soon as I can, as soon as he’s not looking, I won’t do it. But if I can convince that guy that it’s his idea, why are you doing, oh, I’m doing it for the good of the primates and for their enrichment, then he’ll do… Read More
Why?… Read More
During your career, what would you consider to be major events that affected all zoos in general?… Read More
What style of leadership helped you to move the teams to work so well together?… Read More
I think leadership style for moving teams together is very much a sort of inclusive leadership where you’ve got to almost be a facilitator. I think the CEO obviously has to get the direction and get the objectives correct and have no doubt in their mind about where they’re going… Read More
The primates come and rip it all up and eat stuff and leave a huge mess. And then the next day, I gotta sweep it out. I gotta put another bunch of bloody, and it goes on. I mean, and this stupid curator’s been telling me to do this. Read More
I think zoos tend to cater to the lowest common denominator in zoos for their food, which are kids. And I think that’s horrible. I think you should have restaurants which cater for adults, single adults for adults who actually just want to go and have a nice meal. And… Read More
Museums tend to be a lot more focused on a slightly more upmarket clientele. And that’s what that’s reflected very much in their retail stores and to a less extent their food. You were able to form teams of staff that work well together to achieve a specific goal. Read More
Do you think people who are designing think enough about them?… Read More
How important are amenities at a zoo?… Read More
I think it’s really important to have good toilets. In fact, one of the toilets that we we designed in Singapore was that we created this Balinese toilets where we go into the toilet and there’s a garden inside the toilet. The urinals could be outside in the garden. There… Read More
And I think that’s the purpose, really the powerful purpose that zoos have on this earth. I mean, there’s probably a billion people that are go visiting zoos around the world. And we’re sort of squandering the messages that they could be leaving with, especially in the poly-run zoo. I… Read More
And how does that message fit into a storyline for the whole zoo?… Read More
And if you’re sitting in a auditorium in a zoo and the messaging comes through through the presentation, which it should be, and although it can be entertaining and fun and have a laugh, there should be powerful moments punctuated through the presentation where messages, subliminal and also very pertinent… Read More
Why are we doing it?… Read More
How do we get that message across to the visitor?… Read More