We never got it stopped, but we managed to slow it down a bit. This is an activity sponsored by the Jaycees. You know who they are? The Junior Chamber of Commerce. The Jaycees, are the big deals in any little town in Oklahoma. I mean, that’s the organization. And… Read More
There were a lot of demonstrations going on in Washington, DC at that time, the Vietnam War. I got the game, the Federal Department of Interior guy who…… Read More
Oh yeah, I’ve forgotten all about this. Read More
So you never got it stopped?… Read More
We had to kick a few of them out. And that’s another thing, individual animals, and behavior and all, you have to watch for that. You can’t draw conclusions from just four or five animals. You may need to try 25 animals on a certain diet, or on something or… Read More
How’d you get involved in the stopping of the rattlesnake hunts?… Read More
Well, we didn’t get it done. I didn’t. How did I get involved? They’re cruel. They go out and catch those rattlesnakes. They put gasoline into the boroughs. They hook it up, hoses up to exhaust systems. And what they don’t kill, they catch and bring in and, terrible! I… Read More
What was your first big development at Oklahoma City Zoo?… Read More
I mean, it was a little risky mixing animal species. And we did it, if it looked like it would work, if it seemed like it would work, we’d try it. And then we’d watch them like hell, and if it didn’t work, get them the hell out of there. Read More
The condor, what we called the Condor Cliffs and Patagonian Panorama. It was temperate, South American animals. We had maned wolves. These were, they were not, the big exhibit was condors, but we had a gillions of birds in there. We had lizards, we had iguanas in there. We had…… Read More
And he was all, had all kinds of bad qualities. And I fired him. And he had a chance to go up above to whatever you call it. Appeal. Appeal, and he went to city council. They have to listen to whoever’s there. And that was not helpful. And a… Read More
And just firing that one guy had that effect with several people who were not, they were kind of… I think they were worried about the trust coming, not having, I mean, they wouldn’t have a job at the zoo anymore, but they would have a job. And they wanted… Read More
Teamsters! Yeah. One, was the teamsters, the other was the public service restaurants, and all that that they were in. And I’m happy to tell you that when we became the trust, every employee in the zoo had the opportunity, one, stay with the city. The city guaranteed them a… Read More
So they had a choice there. They could stay with the city in some new job, or they could come with us, or they could quit. But they’d have a job either way. Both of those unions voted to what’s called de… There’s a word for it, when you get… Read More
They really were forced into it before, and now they didn’t have to be. And we had built up, and I’m proud of this, and I don’t think I’m tooting my own horn. But we had developed enough confidence of zoo employees in their jobs and in the management that… Read More
Well, one was the whatever, who was the?… Read More
[Mark} Teamsters?… Read More
They were in a lot of zoos. Read More
I’m very proud of one fact. I was dealing with two unions in that zoo, two. One, was the public service employees. And we, by the way, we took that over when we became the trust, and all that money and that. And we developed that. We had the highest… Read More
By that I mean admissions, food and beverage sales, gift shop sales, any grant money or donations, and that sort of thing. Those were bread and butter. And it seemed to me that if we could get those better organized under the trust, it would, but it took time. And… Read More