So I didn’t actually get to see a giant panda till till much, much later. So yeah, my first zoo was Edinburgh Zoo. My second zoo I visited was painting zoo again on a family holiday. And my third zoo was London Fourth Zoo, probably Riverdale Zoo in the old… Read More
My mother was, she did a bit of office work. My dad was, and Scotland was a proof reader for various newspapers. When we eventually ended up in America and getting a job in the papers, it was a union closed shop and my dad ended up being the assistant… Read More
Since the pilgrims, What did your parents do?… Read More
What was your childhood like?… Read More
Initially, very stable and then my family decided that the grass was greener and we did the worst researched immigration to North America. Read More
I’m Douglas Richardson. I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on the 20th of May, 1957. Read More
Hmm. Well, professionally I’d like to be remembered as somebody who championed the saving of wildlife and wild places by supporting zoos and the work of zoos and being a good zoo director for a couple of zoos. And personally, I like to be thought of as a, a good… Read More
What do I know about it? It’s, I think it’s a, a very important part of any community. It gives people in their community something different to do, you know, and to see the zoo and see animals and, and teach people. And you know, I think years ago we… Read More
What do you know about this profession that you’ve devoted your many years of your life to?… Read More
How would you like to be remembered your legacy?… Read More
Yeah, I think so. The good ones, again, it, it depends on their funding sources. If, if they’re heavily endowed, and there are some obviously that are members of a ZA and they have to show that they have ability to maintain themselves over the years. So if they, if… Read More
So, but there’s, there’s, there’s some people that do a very good job. I think there’s probably people that are not doing a very good job too, that I don’t know that we would support. Read More
Yeah, I’m a little concerned. I think we will stay relevant only because the, the wild for one reason because the wild is disappearing and because all people can’t go to the wild. So I think, I think that’s, those are two reasons that zoos will stay relevant. And you’re,… Read More
Will they survive the length of time municipal zoos have?… Read More
What are your thoughts about private zoos owned by people of means?… Read More
Are you concerned about zoos and aquarium staying viable and pertinent in the next 25 years?… Read More
And one of the, there’s not many organizations, of course, we’re talking collectively when, you know, it’s, so, it’s a big collective. So we do a lot for field conservation and, and, and it’s really growing and hopefully it’ll be a lot more in the future because of those exhibits… Read More
In what direction do you think will help them stay relevant?… Read More
And that some of those books teach us how much better we are now When a zoo spends multimillion dollars on a gorilla or an elephant or a tiger exhibit and critics ask, why isn’t this money being used to help animals in the wild? You say, what?… Read More
That’d be wonderful, but it’s not gonna happen. That money, whether it’s from the government, from the city or the county or from donors, is going to your local zoo. The few of those dollars would ever go to just conservation. So it’s unrealistic to say you could take that… Read More