Gerald Durrell was, he was God. Okay. And I, and this was his zoo. He wasn’t there at the time, sadly. But I got to go to the famous Jersey Wildlife Reservation Trust and learn and meet people from around the world, from Denmark and Mexico, Mauritius. There was an… Read More
Yes it was. He didn’t wanna have anything to do with any of that. He knew it had to happen, but he didn’t wanna do it. And so, and he wanted to punish me and take me away from all the animal responsibilities. It’s like, well, I wanted to be… Read More
You know, I had read for years about Gerald Durrell and the Jersey Zoo. Then I saw somewhere advertised that they were doing a summer school on Jersey for zoo professionals and people interested in breeding, you know, an endangered species management. So I applied and they accepted me. I… Read More
How does this come about?… Read More
I worked with the Zol Lounge ’cause design ladies, we had an event called Zari, which was a, which was the dinner in the zoo. Steaks cooked on the grill and corn on the cob. And we had carriage rides through the zoo. It was a very high end thing… Read More
’cause they wanted to help do fundraising for the zoo. And he needed somebody to organize special events at the zoo. So, sadly, everything that I loved at the zoo got taken away from me. And I got taken away from being an hourly person to be a salaried person. Read More
I, you know, a little bit of both. You know, I was just ecstatic to be there with the animals and doing that work. And I felt responsible. Doing that and being responsible was really important to me. But I, yeah, I started forming a philosophy about zoos should be… Read More
And how did that happen?… Read More
The, the assistant, the other assistant zoo director retired. And she kind of did different things. But the, the zoo director needed somebody to handle that zoological society, those rich ladies. Okay. Because we had a group of citizens who wanted to support the zoo. And the last thing he… Read More
Or you’re just happy to be there?… Read More
Again, just kept pushing it, kept being there, kept doing it. Keep getting more responsibility. Just, I just was very persistent. Just wanted to keep doing it. I wanted to do it better. I just wanted to keep doing things better. Read More
So, at that time, are you starting in any way to form a philosophy about zoos?… Read More
Yep, yep, yep. I got, I was assigned the newest building, the Clark Allison Mezo Animal Kingdom Building or something like that. Had indoor exhibits and things like that. That was my supervisory responsibility. And we had aquariums to, to take care of and things like that. It was a… Read More
In 1979, you become head keeper. How did that occur?… Read More
Yep. Does that mean more responsibilities?… Read More
Now later you, you move up to zookeeper three. Read More
And was that the road to your career you thought?… Read More
And so, I mean, I was the only zoo personnel on the grounds. And, you know, you gotta milk a cow every 12 hours. So the morning keeper would milk the cow at seven o’clock and then I would milk the cow at seven o’clock in the evening before I… Read More
Yeah. You know, there was zoo really needed a weekend person. Okay. Because it is, you know, union Zoo. And they needed a union person to work 12 hour days on Saturdays and Sundays. Okay. To just basically do the afternoon work, kind of be the live body there in… Read More
And, and you were selling, what were you selling?… Read More