That wasn’t until the early nineties, it was about 13, 14, 15 years. So you were a city, as well as everybody else was a city employee. Yeah, everyone was a city employee. Well, the society had their own employees too. They had their own staff taking care of animals… Read More
How soon after you arrived, did the zoo go from being a public zoo to a private zoo?… Read More
There was nothing really that would increase attendance, draw attendance to the zoo that started changing, SEEDA also had effect on San Francisco and what they wound up doing because it allowed them to partially fund first of Wolf Woods and the Musk Ox exhibit, then Gorilla World, and the… Read More
Money was always an issue. The society’s involvement was an issue. Early on, I mean, the society always thought that the city was doing a poor job of managing the zoo. The society had a contract with the city that they operated all the concession stands, gift stands or gift… Read More
What were some of the issues affecting the zoo when you got there?… Read More
When I first came there for many years, I was not in the chain of command. My position there was advisory. I mean, I think they called it advisory to the head keeper or assistant keep and senior keepers. I had no direct reports and I would be keeping the… Read More
How did your management style change at all, from Mesker Park?… Read More
He would openly listen to keeper, he would listen to people, for their input in terms of changes and things that’s going on. and he was able to implement or change, initially when he first got there, in terms of acquiring animals or reacquisitioning them, no animal could be moved… Read More
Saul, as I’ve said, I thought, he was my best mentor. He knew animals and he knew management And contacts and he knew the zoo business. And Saul originally said when he came to the zoo, the zoo at San Francisco always had a reputation that there would be an… Read More
What was Saul’s management style?… Read More
At the zoo, I mean, how they would wind up, you seen these wheel barrels of food, stuff coming off the truck, that was Safeway, instead of throwing up, we were picking up. There were a few standards at the zoo, cleaning standards. It though when Saul first got there,… Read More
What was the depressing part initially?… Read More
Well, the family at the time was just she and two old English sheep dogs. And she was from Evansville, but she was willing, very willing and able to move to San Francisco. That wasn’t an issue at the time. The biggest issue was finding housing in San Francisco because… Read More
So how did your family take to the news, we’re going to San Francisco?… Read More
And this keeper got so mad at me because you know, he was talking about, this is a treat. That’s something special for them. We don’t want you upstart young kids coming here and disrupting the place. I mean, he was just so down on me and it certainly spread… Read More
Is that really necessary?… Read More
And I remember I said something to him, I go, do we really have to feed the Oreos?… Read More
So they’d give us apples, but they’d also give us baked goods and meat and all kinds of stuff. And I remember I moments in history that stand out in one’s mind. I was walking with this long term keeper and he had his wheelbarrow full of produce, mixed produce… Read More
And they probably had almost 20 species of primate all in the exact same cage in the exact facility. And what boggled my mind at that time was how they would feed the animals. They would wind up, the keeper would wind up, going to the commissary, get a wheelbarrow. Read More
I mean, once again, the keepers, there was primarily male, white male, probably 80%. There were a few women keepers at those days and some minorities, but it was most of them, most of the men were long term forties to fifties, maybe some, even 60 year old keepers that… Read More