Well, Chuck Sedgwick was at San Diego Zoo. Earl Schobert was not full-time, but he did Busch Gardens in Florida. The other ones that were, I talked with Paul Chaffee out in California, Gordy Hubble down in Florida. There was a couple of part-time ones. Bud Herzog was part-time veterinarian… Read More
So how did you communicate these different cases with these veterinarians?… Read More
And it was a group that if you had cases, “Well, how do you take care of this?… Read More
How do you take care of that?” And so we communicated a lot, and so I got involved probably a little bit more in some case studies, and publishing some of the events, some of the cases that I saw. And so I got more involved in research activities, and… Read More
Working with the curators and keepers, it was, you know, what’s best for the animals, how do we take care of them Well, and in some cases, how are we able to reproduce them?… Read More
And as you’re doing this job as a veterinarian, did you think you wanted to do more than that, or were you thinking, “I want to be a veterinarian here,” and maybe now you’re thinking, at what time did you think, “I think I wanna stick around here”?… Read More
As a veterinarian, and as a veterinarian in really the pioneer days of veterinary medicine in zoos, it was a huge opportunity to learn more. And so besides just treating the animals, and you know, for their medical care, I thought there was a big opportunity for, I don’t know… Read More
(laughing) Well I don’t know about the curators as much, but you know, the zoo still had three animal shows at the time. And so there was the trainers who did the animal shows. Now at that point, one of the trainers who did the big cats, his name was… Read More
What experiences might you have had in those formative years that may have changed your notion, if you had one, of what a zoo should be like?… Read More
Well, I think at that time zoos were primarily places where people came to be entertained, to have a good time. I don’t think at that point conservation was a high priority for most zoos. Read More
Yes, yeah curatorial staff, same way, because they, you know at that time there was a number of young curators, zoologists, different titles to it. But Charlie Hoessle was a curator in charge of all the reptiles, also he oversaw the education department, but he was curator of herps. Bob… Read More
Were there other, among the zookeepers that you learned from, were there any people that you would call characters?… Read More
And talk to the keeper, “Well, was he having difficulty breathing?… Read More
You know, did he have any discharge coming out of his nostrils,” or what have you. And so I think that the keepers enjoyed learning more about the animals as well. And I think as a result of that, it did help have a good relationship between the keepers and… Read More
Was that same philosophy of working with the curatorial staff?… Read More
Did you start to develop a philosophy about working with all these different groups who you had to depend upon?… Read More
Well, I had to depend upon them. Certainly they’re the ones who, you know, are with the animals all day, and they know if their animal isn’t acting properly. And so I, like I said, I tried to learn a lot from them, but I also tried to help them. Read More
Did people work at the zoo at night to- Very seldom was there any calls at night, because the keepers weren’t there at nighttime. There were night security, but their responsibilities were not really so much animal care. But, so seldom did I get calls at night, but always on… Read More
Did you start to develop a philosophy of working with the curators and the keepers?… Read More
You indicated, you know, sometimes they don’t like the university guy coming in, telling them what to do, but you had a job to do. Read More