That’s interesting because I thought okay, now I’m gonna spend more time in retirement and doing some things. And somebody said to me, well I had a neighbor. I had a neighbor who was in charge of all the Six Flags parks in the world. He’s my neighbor. And he… Read More
Well, during that time, that was in 2001. And during that and then my mom passed away in 2002 if I recall. And so, that was behind me. And so, I had somebody contact me about doing some consulting work at two or three different zoos and I did that. Read More
Did you have a game plan in mind?… Read More
I just think it’s a great benefit. That’s a nice perk of the industry. Read More
Now, you leave the Oklahoma City Zoo as director and now what are you thinking about as the next phase of your career slash life?… Read More
If you were trying to get people to support your programs and your conservation programs and your education programs and stuff and you take ’em to Africa or you take ’em to South America or you take ’em to the Galapagos, you don’t have to say much because the location… Read More
Well, I think the trips, certainly for the public who through a society or whether it’s just general public, it provides an opportunity for awareness of nature far beyond anything you can see on TV. You’re right in it. I know my first trip to Africa, I was in total… Read More
Oh, there is a bench, not associated with that. Oh. actually I took a group to Africa one time. And the group that went to Africa bought a bench for the zoo ’cause we had a number of benches that had a commemorative plaque on it. And this one says,… Read More
(laughter) How did you, just ’cause you mentioned Africa, do you feel that the trips that some zoos do, many are important as part of an educational process, a philanthropic process, what do they do if anything?… Read More
Is there a bench also associated with it?… Read More
There’s also a bench isn’t there?… Read More
There is the what?… Read More
(laughter) It’s funny. Yeah, there is a Canada goose, a bronze Canada goose at the Oklahoma City Zoo, it says something like, “In recognition of service as director of the Oklahoma City Zoo from 1985 to 2000,” or something like that. And they wanted to have a commemoration party or… Read More
(laughter) How did you feel about that?… Read More
It’s happened not too long ago with a jaguar in Denver, these accidents unfortunately will continue to happen because it’s the human element and what do you do about that?… Read More
On different subject, can you tell us anything about a goose statue and the commemorative plaque?… Read More
And it’s happened how many times with elephants. Read More
How do you instill into other keepers, you’ve got to pay attention?… Read More
You can’t do things that are gonna jeopardize you. I had a flat rule and this may sound silly but I always believed it. That when I inter interviewed a keeper and if they said, “Oh, I love animals,” that always caused me to pay attention because there’s a difference… Read More
Well, certainly you have to find out exactly what happened. I know that I gathered everybody together, I started asking questions, a lot of the keepers who were not present when this happened felt that what happened was not caused by human error. You’ve got to ask a lot of… Read More