So it’s very important for that reason. It’s important. ’cause now they realize that they have a sustainable, you know, rather than poaching. And some of these guys were poachers before and now they’re, now they’re now they’re helping to save the animals because, because there’s a direct connection with,… Read More
So I, I think that there is a growing subset of people and I think the, the generation Z of the millennials do ask those questions that we never asked in the, in the past, well this is nice, there’s this habitat, but what are you doing for these animals… Read More
I think that question gets asked more now than it has in the past. And I think that, I think the pressure from the outside, from outside has changed zoos a lot. Which is, again, reactive, then proactive, I think it was the guy from GM said something, when the… Read More
How important do you believe tourism in Africa is to protect species? Long term, Short term?… Read More
You know, you gotta be innovative. So I, I think that’s the ch the challenge, the, the what I see, I see that, I see the, the, the benefit is that people are seeing the results of long-term thinking. The the triple bottom line approach, which is a, is a,… Read More
What, what are we gonna do now?… Read More
What worries me is the politics and the governments that make these decisions, you know, probably isolated from, from the communities that are there, I think. And, and politics doesn’t seem to, it’s not a long term conservation’s, long term commitment. Political, you know, political stuff is not, or even… Read More
And as we continue to talk about conservation, what worries you about it, but what gives you hope?… Read More
No, not after I saw what Bill Conway went through in the Bronx. What, what’d they call that Species conservation center or something there, there was a cartoon in the New Yorker where these two gorillas are behind bars at the Central Park Zoo. And one looks at the other… Read More
What I’m meaning is, if if you’re not making, if you’re not every year doing something to help people and, and animals in remote communities save the habitat for the animals, then I, I I, I don’t, I I can’t justify a zoo that is just, that just, you know,… Read More
When you were director of the Houston Zoo, did you ever contemplate trying to change the name?… Read More
So you get to know them better. And, and, and that, that works for what I’m doing, but I’m not so sure the general public is, is is there yet the, the the, we, we have a lot of history. I wish we could change the name zoo. I, I… Read More
Instead, I’m doing something that is a model that will eventually generate more funds than I could ever generate in my lifetime. So I think that that’s the, you know, that that’s the change in, in attitudes of most zoos is that, you know, less species. Not, not, not dramatically… Read More
Again, we used to brag years ago about having species from every species, you know, the, the encyclopedia of, of, of, of species. Nowadays it’s more about zoo geographic. So animals from a certain certain area are in one section of the zoo and another section. I mean, that’s fine. Read More
What would you say has been the greatest areas of development that you’ve seen in the way zoos have interpreted their collections to their visitors?… Read More
Like giraffes is a good one. You know, they keep trying to say if there’s four species and, and seven subspecies, there’s seven species and few subspecies. You know, to me the, that, that, that’s a technicality that in the end when we’re down to just a few animals, we’re… Read More
So they’re in the private sector now. And that gets complicated because it sounds like, oh, well we only care about these species and we don’t care about these. When you start playing triage, you get in trouble. But then again, sometimes it’s necessary. Read More
You’ve worked with them, has their selection criteria to decide which animals become part of the survival species program Met with what you envisioned?… Read More
I don’t know. It it, it changes so much. You have a lot of people that rely on genetics and inbreeding more than, I mean, inbreeding goes on in the wild sometimes too. It’s, so, I, I think sometimes we get too obsessed with certain elements. Everything’s a tool in… Read More
But again, let’s, let’s protect the habitat so we don’t get to that point that we have to keep doing this. Now you’ve worked within a ZA American Zoo Association organization. Read More