Interview 14794 – Caption Index: 496
As a mentor, what do you tell a young person in college who appears to be realistic and sincere about wanting a zoo career?… Read More
As a mentor, what do you tell a young person in college who appears to be realistic and sincere about wanting a zoo career?… Read More
What skills did you have or skill that allowed you to survive?… Read More
I guess at some point in time, when I realized, I mean, once again, looking at my own personal self and retirement, if I could just stay under the radar, do what I have to do or do nothing if I had to do nothing. I mean, not that I’m… Read More
I’ve seen people come and disappear. Never to hear from them again. People you would think, that I considered were, good guys who got good zoo guys, man, or woman, but for whatever reason, whether it was by choice, by necessity or by mandate, they left the profession, and maybe… Read More
You can’t choose everything and think you’re gonna succeed out everything with the limited resources of zoos, universities, national parks, governments, you can’t save everything. So I guess, choose your battles wisely. You’ve done a lot of things. Do you have anything that comes to mind that is really a… Read More
Well, yeah, they certainly have a role, now, you know how successful they are with the role. I can’t subscribe to a zoo being successful in terms of conservation. It’s almost once an animal becomes considered endangered or site one or whatever. You want to have some sort of designation,… Read More
Do zoo have a role in conservation in the tenants of education and research?… Read More
Make sure they do it. You’re very direct. They need to be able to manage, and whether that be fund, give enough guns. I mean, manage the collections, the wild populations of animals in a meaningful way. Now, let me say this too about that, extinction is a normal part… Read More
We can’t devolve man. We can’t euthanize the population. We can’t bring the world back to way it was, whether it’d be a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago or a million years ago, it’s evolving. I don’t know if two years ago, certainly still talk about it, that… Read More
What issues would you like to see zoos address in the future?… Read More
Yeah, it is one of those subjects that you can’t argue. It’s like talking. I equate it to trying to convert someone to religion or politics. If a person has a feeling that zoos are horrible places that just keep animals caged with a miserable life, that the animals have… Read More
What would you say to those who still believe zoos are nothing more than places where you cage an animal?… Read More
At the time when we got rid, when we shipped the elephants out of San Francisco, I understand that it had to be done. And certainly in San Francisco, because of the culture of the city, I understand that move. I personally would’ve liked to seen them stay, but I… Read More
Another one of those, I feel strongly both ways When you visit a zoo, the most typical, I mean, if you were to draw what your average family is, whether it’s a male that’s 37 years old and a female, 29 years old with 1.6 kids. And that means one,… Read More
What is your view regarding the topic of elephants in captivity from a curator standpoint?… Read More
Once again saying I’m old school. I think it’s very important that curators need to experience. I mean, they need practical hands on experience. I have certainly seen institutions hire people from the academic community. Have great academic credentials may have done, some wonderful field work, but never worked in… Read More
You can’t know everything about everything, and you have to have an open mind where you can learn from your keepers. There’s a hot topic of zoos maintaining elephants in their collections. You’ve had elephant experience. Read More
How do you think curators should be trained today to do what’s expected of them?… Read More
What’s the problem?… Read More
And hey, I want to get involved. There’s been a complaint at times from zoo directors that there are few good curators. Read More