And that was actually nothing to do with any of those incidents I’ve spoken about, but we had a volunteer who was really causing a lot of problems, who actually went on to set up animal rights NGO in Singapore. But he felt that we were treating our chimpanzees quite… Read More
How do you handle somebody who’s like kind of hitting you at every side?… Read More
Why were you successful and what tips would you give a young zoo director?… Read More
I think I got thrown in at the deep end with the media from almost when I was first joined, I started being used as a voice, mainly because I was working with animals. And a lot of the times, the media wanted to look at new births and new… Read More
With my superiors and my subordinates. Well, I mean, no, I’m pretty much the same. I worked very closely with my subordinates, as I mentioned earlier. It’s more a question of hiring them, getting on with them, tasking them, and ensuring that they just get on and do it. And… Read More
If they’re really not doing the job well, then fire them. But we’re working with my superiors. I mean, it’s really just working with the board committees and stuff. Obviously, the roles that one are in with committees are you’re listening to what the committees are asking you to do. Read More
Anyways, they have gelada baboon. I think it’s called Baboon Village or baboon camping, but similar concepts. Large groups of baboons with actually ibis. So the baboons have a kind of a rocky wall, which they can climb up to a point but can’t because of overhang can’t get on… Read More
You can walk in up to a higher level, go up. It’s got butterflies, but it’s also got a bunch of mammals, a bunch of birds, anything that doesn’t particularly like to eat butterflies in there. So it’s got lemurs walking around, it’s got fruit bats, it’s got duikers. And… Read More
Did you have to take on different leadership roles for each group?… Read More
Aside from the Night Safari, can you tell me some exhibits you champion and the highs of lows of each one or two?… Read More
I think one one of the exhibits I really liked, which was from quite some time ago was a Primate Kingdom. Primate Kingdom is a complex of about five, I think five or six or seven islands, some of them very large, some of them fairly small, forested, vegetated for… Read More
Was this your most, I assume, but was this your most frustrating, challenging times as director leading the zoo?… Read More
I think so, yeah. If you ask my wife, it was probably about six months where I was really painful to be with. I just really was totally like… I can’t stand it. I really gotta go. And as soon as I left, it was great. I mean, I felt… Read More
And so it just kind of slipped into a new way of looking at stuff. A couple of quick questions. Read More
I’m out of here.” So I called a meeting with the staff and I think I got about five or 600 of them and just announced that I was resigning. And lot of them were really shocked, but I said, “Well, that’s it.” That’s the way it goes. Read More
I’m really sorry about it.” But on hindsight, do you think you could have continued to be at the top of your game if you had stayed?… Read More
My chairman was actually removed about seven months later. I had an exit interview with his niece, who was the wife of the prime minister. And she asked me why am I leaving. I said, “Well, I can’t get on with your uncle,” or whatever relationship he was. And he… Read More
I mean already the rot was setting in, but over the next three to four months, you can ask Tina, we thought about it and she said, “Why don’t you just resign because you’re just having such an issue with this person, this chairman of yours?… Read More
And you’d just be so much happier if you just resign.” I said, “Yeah, I will be.” But it seem like it’s okay. Yeah, okay, it’s my zoo. But also I’m really letting down the staff, I think, because we had gone into this spurger and I had told the… Read More
They kind of keep this stuff. So the long and the short of it is that he found out about this and he said, “You must…” He called me, he said, “You must give this guy letter of warning.” So I said, “Well, I don’t really think it’s appropriate. I… Read More