Interview 33485 – Caption Index: 124
That was the, the real measuring stick. Read More
That was the, the real measuring stick. Read More
Now we, you know, more recently where okay, right, is the welfare of the animals, is the environment they’re being kept in, is it challenging enough for the species concerned?… Read More
And, and I’ve always been a, a key advocate, both of, of honesty and transparency about what we do. And in particular, if we’re going to manage animal populations long term, there are tricky subjects that we need to grab hold of with both hands. And, and I think the,… Read More
I think, I mean the, the one that I think initially caused me the most concern was that historically keepers were never listened to. You know, you were there to do the grunt work, you were not part of the decision making process or even able to make a contribution… Read More
What issues caused you the most concern during your career and how do you see the future regarding those same issues?… Read More
That’s not really been the case historically in, in the uk. But now we have a very discriminating zoo public. And as people now, they, they want and need permission to come to the zoo. So the zoo has to be a good place doing good things for people to… Read More
What changes have you seen during your years in, in the zoo field regarding visitor attitudes?… Read More
Huh. I mean, certainly when I was first brought to zoos as a child visitor, which for me was the, the highlight of my year, certainly the uk the, the zoo visiting season opens on the Easter weekend. And so going to Edinburgh Zoo where I was as a young… Read More
And the keepers had done some drawings and I made sure that everything they wanted was incorporated in the plans I gave them. And it turns out everybody was really happy with it. ’cause I, I took what they had and made it easier because I’d been a zookeeper. I… Read More
And I said, right, what have you got?… Read More
Is there something else that you’d want there?… Read More
I did a job recently for Dundee. They wanted a new gibbon enclosure. Read More
I said, come on. You know, I said, tell me what to do. And anyway, they, they taught me how to catch crocodiles. There was one guy who was getting a bit cocky by the end of the day and giving me lots of instructions of, okay, right, you’re pushing… Read More
It’s time to you guys. So have a look at it, you know, have I, you know, have I missed something?… Read More
We had to catch up and move them. And I’d never caught a big crocodile before. And so the, there was a number of keepers at Singapore that had a lot of crocodile experience. And I said, right, okay, today I’m working for you. You have to tell me what… Read More
I said, well, I’ve, I’ve always been interested in zoo architecture, but I taught myself how to read a plan, how to alter it, how to use tracing paper to basically come up with something new, another be kind to the maintenance department. That’s absolutely crucial. When you want a… Read More
And it turns out, because of planning permission, we had to stay within the footprint. And so over a lunchtime, I changed the interior design. Read More
And the architect was like, how did you do that?… Read More
And so, you know, I said, look, you know, can I need to change a few things?… Read More
So they can’t make intelligent contribution to it. I mean, I did a job in Rome and we had a, a a, a zoo architect firm doing the new bear enclosure. And, and I wasn’t happy with, the exhibit was great, but the holding area was, I didn’t think it… Read More