It takes a certain degree of of experience to be able to stand up there and talk to the media, because they’re out to get you. They’re out for a story. They’re out to win their Emmy or their Eddie or whatever they’re looking for, and they really play “gotcha”… Read More
What should zoos be doing, if anything, to help governments protect land masses?… Read More
Any advice for the neophyte zoo director about the importance of marketing zoos?… Read More
What are the most important aspects of marketing in your opinion?… Read More
We have 400,000 kids and adults coming to our programs. And so we absolutely had an impact on their knowledge of conservation, their knowledge of wildlife, their knowledge of the issues around those animals. And I think that’s so important, because education’s really what it’s all about. We really have… Read More
But speaking of education, what direction should zoo education be going as it relates to conservation, education and research?… Read More
I think that our core mission is always gonna be our core mission when it comes to education. I mean, our core focus is always gonna be, and should always be talking about the animals, educating the visitors about the animals, the visitors, and our students, and our classes, our… Read More
Our graphics were never doom and gloom graphics, our graphics were always trying to be positive, and yet still address the issue. So, I think through graphics, through conservation programs, through educational programs, we need to educate the public about the human population growth and make them aware that, oh… Read More
Is education doing any good, particularly in boosting the image of zoos among the public in the face of the anti zoo groups?… Read More
Absolutely. I mean, here’s the problem. The animal rights folks got so far ahead of us, and they’re so well funded, that we’re behind the eight ball. But still, the wonderful programs that zoos have had forever, a good zoo has always had an education program. I mean, we did… Read More
I think in the future zoos have to address more strongly, as we talked about, the animal rights issues. But the other thing that I think zoos are totally ignoring, but is really at the root of all animal problems, is the human population growth. Human population growth is the… Read More
There’s not gonna be food for the animals because of the human population. So we really, as a zoo, I think, need to take that issue and educate people about it. Read More
Our graphics were never “hit you over the head” graphics, right?… Read More
What issues caused you the most concern during your career, and how do you see the future regarding those same concerns?… Read More
Well, one of the things that we always worry about when we look at zoos at the president and CEO level is financial stability. And so I was very, very proud of the fact that one of my achievements at the Pittsburgh Zoo was that during my tenure in ’93,… Read More
What issues would you like to see zoos address in the future?… Read More
And so, you really, you have to make a concerted effort to train managers to come up. The other thing you gotta be, and I hear this a lot, the other thing you’ve got to be careful, you’ve got to be okay with, is letting that person leave. So if… Read More
And we had a lot of students who came down and learned about the opportunities in zoos and tried to get them interested in being involved. Even if they weren’t gonna go to college, they weren’t gonna go to, because I’m not one who thinks that you have to have… Read More
And we don’t do that very well, and it’s not because we don’t want to, it’s because we get so wrapped up in the day to day. Read More
And the next thing you know, you’ve been in the zoo business for 40 years, how did that happen?… Read More