The town I grew up didn’t have a zoo. So it was in my dream, (coughs) excuse me, writing fan mail to the zoo director in Tokyo so forth and so forth. As a little child, I remember on the family vacation going to the next prefect, the next city,… Read More
Were animals part of your life?… Read More
It was unfortunate that the family had a history of dysfunctional family syndrome, and wildlife was sort of an escape, or a therapy to read about, and to look at. So if I grew up in an ordinary family, I may not have gotten into zoo business. Read More
As you were growing up, did you see zoos growing up?… Read More
And who were your parents, and what did they do?… Read More
Dad’s name was spelled C-H-I-Z-U-O. Chizuo. A physician. Mother’s name was C-H-I-Y-O-K-O, Chiyoko. A housewife. Read More
And could you tell us a little about your childhood, growing up?… Read More
First name is Ken, K-E-N. No middle name. Last name is K-A-W-A-T-A. T as in Texas. Born in 26 April 1937 in a little town in southern Japan called Miyazaki, M-I-Y-A-Z-A-K-I. Japan. Read More
Second term had an interesting beginning. I was sworn in in September, and four months later, Christmas is there. And the entire AZA staff had taken off Christmas day, except for Steve Feldman, who at the time was the AZA’s public relations person, and being of the Jewish faith was… Read More
And it was a member of the AZA staff. And he said, “I’m not sure what is happening here, but apparently a tiger has escaped in the San Francisco Zoo and killed somebody, a visitor.” I was standing up, (laughs) and I sat down. I kind of plopped down and… Read More
So had a great time as president, but it sure didn’t start out that way. Well, Satch, thank you very much for taking time to talk with the Zoo & Aquarium Video Archive. I enjoyed it. Thoroughly, thank you for asking me, I’m honored. Read More
Well, thank you very much for spending the time with us and giving us- Sure. It won’t take but six or seven minutes. Ask me about my second term as president of AZA. (interviewer laughs) Satch, you’ve been president of AZA two times. Read More
Can you tell me about your second term as president?… Read More
How do you think new technologies assist in promoting the zoo, the Twitter, the Facebook, remote cameras to draw attention to wildlife?… Read More
I have a two-part answer to that. (laughs) The Facebooks and the Twitters, I despise. Social media, I think is a horrible thing. And we fought it with our employees constantly. And it was a generational thing. You know, in those last few years that I worked, 2015, ’16, ’17,… Read More
But those other things that you mentioned are all good. When we had the koalas and we had our first baby, we had a camera and a website devoted to it, and we were getting emails from all over the world every day. And some of them were a little-… Read More
Oh, yeah, every…… Read More
You mean like new exhibits and baby animals types?… Read More
Oh yeah, all the time, yeah. My last question, Satch, is on the press. Read More
Did you ever plan special events for them to cover?… Read More