But I got on the phone with other people and said, “Look, let me tell you what we’re feeding saki monkeys.” And they’d laugh, you know, you gotta be kidding me, you know. So I slashed the food budget probably three-fourths with no impact on animal health or on animal… Read More
And I’m trying to think there was any, oh gosh, I can’t remember. It’s not that important, but a good number of the staff within the year of my becoming director had gone, had moved on. They just, their jobs weren’t needed anymore, mainly because they had been tasked with… Read More
I didn’t terminate anybody. I didn’t eliminate any positions. But that was probably the first time that I had any contact with politicians because I appeared before them to show them how much we had reduced the budget and that we were trying to be fiscally responsible and good stewards… Read More
Who was your senior staff then?… Read More
Well, actually the only true senior staff member was the business manager. Dennis Decoursey was no longer working at the zoo. And a head bird keeper, the head bird keeper was the acting bird curator. There was a, Dow was the maintenance supervisor, and he left soon after. And he… Read More
Clearly spending had to be brought under control. So I got with the business manager and we went over the budget, and based on my experience up to that point, I knew… There was clear we had two issues. We had a bloated staff, and our food budget was off… Read More
And he interviewed them both. The gentleman from, the curator, the general curator said he couldn’t live in the South and he withdrew. And Dr. Schroeder actually offered the job to the gentleman who was also a veterinarian like Dr. Schroeder and was the director of a large Midwestern zoo. Read More
I never had one, he had three. I didn’t want them to type up the resume ’cause I didn’t want, A, I didn’t want them to know I was doing it, and B, I didn’t want to be embarrassed when I didn’t get the job. So I had this lady… Read More
Sort of, yes. Read More
He said, “This is Charles Schroeder.” He said, “You’re not gonna talk about this zoo again.” He said to him, he said, “If you want to continue in this profession, this is it. You’re done talking about Riverbanks Zoo. You need to leave.” And he did, never said another word. Read More
And he had a little, took a piece of 8 by 10 paper, and he put it on landscape and he wrote little grids on it, and he had the names of the people who applied in there, experience and all. He had this little chart. And I stayed out… Read More
He said, “I’ve got some work to do here in the office.” I said, “Good, I gotta go out and check on a few animals or something.” I come back and he hands me a piece of paper, and there was everything he had said the day before, with timelines. Read More
He was a man’s man. And he’s standing there with this sheepish look on his face and a sledgehammer. And there’s a big chunk missing out of the top of this wall, and Dr. Schroeder’s standing there. And I walked up, I’m taking all this in, and I looked down… Read More
He was just an amazing man. So for six weeks, he set about… Well, the second day he was there, there was a small article in the paper, and it was about Mehrtens, and he had spoken to the Humane Society in Columbia the day before and said horrible things… Read More
So our tour of the zoo had lasted maybe 40 seconds, and he says, “Why is that wall there?” I said, “I don’t know. I didn’t have anything to do with putting the wall. That was Mehrtens.” “Tear it down.” “Oh, okay, (laughs) sure.” So we start going around the… Read More
Not because of an ego or feeling like I deserve, but we needed space. And I said to people, “Look, I’ll move into that office, but they’re gonna hire a director, and, you know, don’t read anything into this.” But I hadn’t moved anything personally. It still had some of… Read More
And for six weeks, that was his office. We shared a desk. I later found out that when he was director at San Diego, he had the door taken off his office. He couldn’t shut it. He didn’t believe in closed doors. And so the next morning I come in. Read More
Dr. Charles Schroeder, who had been the longtime director of the San Diego Zoo and who had dreamed of and built the San Diego Wild Animal Park and before that had worked as veterinarian at the Bronx Zoo. I mean, he was just, he was a very, if you want… Read More
Zoo something out of the Midwest. Anyway, he wasn’t really employed by them, but when he was hired by the Zoo Commission, he was in discussions with them about becoming a consultant. Anyway, so I get a call that they’ve hired this man. I knew who he was, and I… Read More
And, oh, by the way, he’s now the acting director, and you’re the general curator again. So now I’m demoted. After about, I don’t know, two weeks, I’m no longer the acting director. So once Don Barton walked away, Dr. Schroeder asked me the most profound question that I think… Read More