Interview 29150 – Caption Index: 62
How did that occur?… Read More
How did that occur?… Read More
I, I think probably the, the biggest medical challenge and, and not based on animals being prone to illness or whatever, but just the volume of the collection. When I was at St. Louis, we had two, we had a pair of elderly gorillas, a handful of other great apes. Read More
Or had you thought about that philosophically before, Before I, I hadn’t really thought about that. It, it really was, you know, trying to develop their trust. You know, I, I remember jokingly when I, because I, I’m, I don’t know that I was aware of this, but certainly I… Read More
Were any of the animals at Lincoln Park where you started medically challenging?… Read More
And how did you handle it?… Read More
How hard or easy is it would you say for a young veterinarian to work into the medical routine routine of a organization?… Read More
I think so. So Dr. Ashkin had been a consulting veterinarian there at the zoo, and they hired him out of small animal practice and into the zoo full time when they built the first purpose-built Zoo Hospital in 76. And so this was just a few years later. So… Read More
Was there any secrets when you first came to Lincoln Park of getting and working with the Animal Creek animal keepers to accept you?… Read More
When I, when I started the hospital, staff was myself, one veterinary technician and one keeper to take care of the animals in the hospital. So my responsibilities was running that staff of two people, but was responsible for the medical care of a very good size and complex collection. Read More
What were your responsibilities as a young veterinarian?… Read More
Well, the director that was there throughout almost all of my dozen year tenure at Lincoln Park was Dr. Les Fisher. And Les was also a veterinarian. He started out as the part-time consulting veterinarian at Lincoln Park Zoo in the late forties. And somebody with a lot of, a… Read More
I, I, I guess one of my, one of my first experiences, that was one of the first things that interested me. ’cause I, I really had an attachment to the Children’s Zoo at St. Louis. That’s where I started out working as a keeper. It’s where I met my… Read More
Louis. And then you went outside and this was only open seasonally, but you went outside and there was this area where there were lots of exhibits and different animals exhibited out there and there was artificial streams running through it. And, and it all felt very familiar. And what… Read More
Louis. And so that was the genesis of feeling very at home in the children’s zoo at Lincoln Park And in Lincoln Park at the time you were there when you started, who was the first director of the zoo and what was your relationship with the director?… Read More
Well, the, you know, as a, as a veterinarian, it, it’s a, it’s a bit of, it’s, it’s determined by what your specialty is. If you are a small animal practitioner, you could look at practices anywhere in the country. A large animal food, animal veterinarian would be, you know,… Read More
What type of zoo did you find when you got on the job?… Read More
Lincoln Park was my preference because with most of my family in St. Louis, there was a relatively much shorter commute to go home for visits. So I was, I was interested in Lincoln Park and I got that position At the time when you went to Lincoln Park, who… Read More
Yes. And how do you, how do you get the job at the Lincoln Park Zoo?… Read More
I, I think it, it’s a little bit, it’s a little bit like thinking about the, the Super Bowl at the beginning of each football game in the season. You’re, you’re engaged in what you’re doing now and learning everything you can and getting through your residency more than setting… Read More
Yes, yes. The residency at the time, the residency was a two year program and it was the first one in the country that was, that was associated with a university, but actually located at a zoo. So I, I think I was about the 11th person to complete a… Read More