Interview 20517 – Caption Index: 142
By that time, it was much smaller. About one third of what they used to have. But yes, there still were quite a few species. Dozen, 15. And the reptile wing was a very nice place. Read More
By that time, it was much smaller. About one third of what they used to have. But yes, there still were quite a few species. Dozen, 15. And the reptile wing was a very nice place. Read More
Now what kind of zoo was the Staten Island zoo?… Read More
What was its makeup, and how did it fit in to the zoos in New York?… Read More
So I wanted to have a very nice place to finish off my zoo years, and after 10 years, I was looking. I was very fortunate to find a home the next zoo, final zoo. Read More
And that zoo is, how did it come about that you went to the Staten Island Zoo?… Read More
Staten Island Zoo, yes. I talked to Vin Gattullo. G-A-T-T-U-L-L-O. Into hiring me. And he was an educator biologist, unlike so many other zoo directors. So I went there. It was a very nice place, peaceful staff for a change. Read More
Part of the Detroit Zoo. Very ill-conceived. Animal facilities are just terrible. Very little space for keepers, very little space for night quarters, winter quarters, and it was on the elevated boardwalk. Impossible to walk in winter because of the ice and so on. So it was quite difficult. Difficult… Read More
Do you feel you were able to make contributions to the collection?… Read More
I would hope so, but collection was so limited. No indoor facility, basically hoofstock. So I couldn’t really expand the animal collection. So I did other things, such as working with UIA Seal, or the CBSG, now CPSG. Coordinating with the conservation programs, and also I got into conservation program… Read More
That’s what apparently happened. If you speak up as a keeper, you get kicked out. So I ended up with the rejects, who turned out to be pretty good. Read More
Can you talk about Belle Isle Zoo?… Read More
That was part of the Detroit Zoo?… Read More
What surprised me was he said because you treat me like a human being. Read More
What?… Read More
And then the next zoo that you went to, where was that, and how did you decide that’s the zoo I’d like to work at?… Read More
I really didn’t have a choice. Lost a job, and living on unemployment. Steve Graham, then the Detroit Zoo director, kind of rescued me, and I arrived at Detroit. Internally, he was very, very difficult. I was at Belle Isle Zoo in Detroit. It’s sort of a, hate to say… Read More
How come?… Read More
So within a matter of nine month or so, three department heads left. I was one of them. Read More
And you then, that was, so you were there from 1981 to 1987?… Read More
Mm-hmm. Read More