And so they get out a notepad and I said, okay, we need to make a needs assessment list. We’re gonna make a needs assessment list of everything we need in a conservation offsite breeding center. That’s what we’re gonna make. Conservation, research, education. We need to write that down. Read More
We need this, we need that. I mean, and pie in the sky kind of, we need this, we need that. We came up with a list of 48 things. 48 things. Read More
I’m like, hell, nothing’s gonna match that, right?… Read More
And so I said, all right, I said, get a notepad. Read More
Who’s got a notepad?… Read More
So they get out a notepad and they’re like, oh, great, she’s gonna give us homework?… Read More
She’s sitting on the console. I’ve got the research director, I’ve got the mammal curator, who was Amos Morris at the time. I’ve got the mammal curator, I’ve got a guy from Wuppertal, elephant manager. I’ve got our elephant manager, I’ve got the marketing and PR people, we’re all going… Read More
I’m paying their salaries, right?… Read More
So there’s an inch of snow that’s starting to fall on the ground, right?… Read More
But we’re going anyway. So I pile ’em all in there, we take off. I’ve got nine people in the car. Read More
One person, our little development director, ’cause if we buy this, she got to raise the money to buy it, to fund it, right?… Read More
Which actually was the thing I thought was the most interesting, ‘Cause who does that, right?… Read More
It’s miles of fencing. Anyway, and so I said, I’m gonna load up my Yukon this afternoon, anybody who wants to go can go. Pile in. I said, I’m gonna go look at this hunting ranch. Now mind, this is Pittsburgh in March. Read More
And the way I do things at the zoo is like, I like to have everybody’s opinion, right?… Read More
And so I tell that department head, I said, I’m going out to see this ranch, just ’cause curiosity’s killing me. ‘Cause I don’t believe he’s got a perimeter fence, 10 foot high, electrified all the way around the darn thing. Read More
It’s like all the infrastructure you would need, except for an elephant barn, right?… Read More
And so, I got a whim, and this is March. I’ve actually got a colleague, an elephant manager from the Wuppertal Zoo, and he’s visiting Willie Tyson. Read More
And so it took me about a week to open it. And then when I opened it, I’m like, holy cow, this is a really nice place. Holy cow. I mean, like, it had four houses on the property, beautiful houses, I mean, really nice. It had this restaurant that… Read More
One end was mechanical, the next one was hay, next one was carpentry. Read More
And he said, well, can I send you some pictures?… Read More