And so that was it. And being a pretty forceful guy, he said, “Let’s do the polar bears.” And we didn’t have actually enough money even to do something, which was large enough. But anyway, and that was one of our first, one of our early exhibits. And even now,… Read More
You used to invite people to discuss how the zoo could be more inviting. Read More
When you decided to have polar bears in Singapore, were there objections?… Read More
Were you criticized?… Read More
And why did you choose to move forward with the exhibit?… Read More
Well, I think I come from the School of Zoo Design, which is basically set up by Hancocks and John Coe, Jones & Jones in the 1976 long range plan of the Woodland Park Zoo, which David Hancock commissioned, and he chose Jones & Jones, which is a landscape company… Read More
That’s the point. I’m doing a PhD right now and what I’m doing is if it’s looking at great exhibits around the world and asking zoo people about which they think is a great exhibit, and then trying to analyze why it’s a great exhibit. And in fact, I’ve probably… Read More
If they’re based somewhere in Central Asia, they go to Tashkent and some of the other zoos around there and Almaty and they say, “Well, this is the kind of yardstick that we’re following.” If they’re fortunate enough to be based in Southeast Asia, hopefully they go to Singapore Zoo… Read More
It’s difficult for other departments who are not a zoo to even start fathoming why zoos tend to be a little bit schizophrenic. Read More
You mentioned a little bit, can you talk to me about the importance of landscaping in relation to animal exhibitions?… Read More
Would the examples be the Great River Valley or Fragile Forest?… Read More
That’s why when my daughter was doing a program about giant pandas in Singapore and she said, “Dad, do you wanna do an interview?” And the cameraman said, “I’ve done an interview with him before, and you don’t want him on your program.” In the case of Singapore or maybe… Read More
Or is a zoo different?… Read More
Well, yeah, I think zoos are different in the sense that they have almost contradictory objectives are, especially when they’re commercial or even society run. But I mean, you’ve got these objectives of education, conservation research, and you’ve got this recreation, social immunity, commercialization. They’ve got to balance the budgets,… Read More
But you know what, it’s like why are we showing favoritism to this animal that the species that took the wrong turn evolutionary wise long ago?… Read More
And it kind of went down a path of almost a note, a dead end path and so tough luck guys. I mean, when the bamboo runs out, they actually do each other stuff besides bamboo. I mean, we know that. I mean, I’ve had giant paddles on loan in… Read More
Shouldn’t they be saved?… Read More
Are they worth the price?… Read More
I think I have very strong feeling about giant pandas, purely in the sense that they’re one of 10 million species on earth. Okay, they’re iconic animal. They’re pretty to look at. They’re WWFs and some of the Chinese icons. Read More
Are you or can you be stubborn in the position you hold?… Read More