Well, I had to do that a lot. But the best advice I can give about that as be proactive, don’t get defensive. If you do it right and you care about your animals and it’s quality over quantity, again, you’re not gonna have, you, you might have problems with… Read More
There’s a much more empathy for animals than there used to be in the past. Before it was this, oh, there there’s a freak show. You know, I’m talking 50 years ago or more, you know, the wild and the weird, you know, is what you came to see. And… Read More
Not because finance. I, I mean that’s an easy out, I guess to say that. But I, they’re getting smaller because they should be smaller. I think you can do things. Quality is better than quantity. It used to be the encyclopedia, you know, collection of animals. You have to… Read More
Could you give us some thoughts on how best to deal with these kind of groups?… Read More
As an aside, do you think the collections you mentioned are getting smaller of financial constraints because of why are they getting smaller?… Read More
They’re habitats are getting much better. And, and there’s more space for them because now the collections are getting much smaller. Read More
I think it’s a balance. I, I wouldn’t, just because you’re a small facility doesn’t mean you should just do local animals. You have to analyze what your audience is, who’s coming to that zoo. And maybe I would, if I would have a balance of maybe some exotic species,… Read More
What, what type of collection should small or medium zoos be focused on?… Read More
Should it be regional, endangered, just animals that no one wants?… Read More
What do you think should be the focus of their type of collection?… Read More
Well, it’s an interesting question for me because I went from big to small instead of small to big. ’cause now I’m in a very small organization, long neck manner. So, but I got the experience from the larger zoos. There are differences, obviously the resources. But basically the, the,… Read More
I i, you gotta have a team, you know, to make you look good. You cannot do it yourself Well. But with the small zoos or the medium zoos, they have financial resources, big and small. Read More
You don’t have a lot of the other resources. I’m learning that now. I don’t have an executive assistant anymore. That used to keep me so organized. A a, a good executive assistant is, is really what saves you in a big organization. You, you have to have somebody that’s… Read More
I think those, there, there’s a lot of qualities, other qualities. When you read the job descriptions, there’s so many, there’s so many other, you have to have good writer. You have to be a good writer, good verbal skills. And, and even then sometimes it, it, it doesn’t work. Read More
Either nationally or could it be internationally?… Read More
What do you think though that a small or a medium, medium size zoo, particularly a municipal, municipal one, could do today to be involved in wildlife conservation?… Read More
Well, but what then, what kind of skillset do you think as your director needs today as compared to when you started?… Read More
Well, today you have to be very charismatic. ’cause you’re raising money all the time. Most of the zoos are, are not municipal anymore. So they have to raise their own money. And, and that, I think that is number one is fundraising skills. But you should have a good… Read More
And sometimes that doesn’t make you a good director in certain senses, but it makes you a good person. Read More
Well, first of all, I’m not sure I was a good director. Read More