Well, she didn’t have a lot of the, well none of the scientific people, you know. A lot of the people at universities, and guy who was at Humboldt State University, who was the head of, you know, National Geographic Society who was funding her in part, as a scientific… Read More
And so we got, I think that time $10,000 I guess, which is, it was the best we could do. But lessons were learned. Lessons were learned. And it was interesting enough. Warren Thomas as director at the Los Angeles zoo let something like that happened to her, happen to… Read More
And far as I know, she never, she didn’t apply for any permit.” And She said, “Well I don’t know, but they’re coming in.” And I said, “This is gonna be rich.” I said, “I don’t see that, how this is gonna happen.” Well, not only did it happen, but… Read More
But how did she bring them in without the permits?… Read More
You know how tough it was for any of us to get the permits and to bring something in without them they they’d be confiscated, you know that. And once I, and then after that happened, I got a visit from one of the guys, from one of the customs… Read More
The guy would say, “Oh thank you, Jimmy, for bringing me that towel,” or something like that. And then of course, that’s all Jimmy was doing, bringing something, he didn’t, couldn’t talk or couldn’t do anything, except you know, he was just going around. And that’s the way this gorilla… Read More
“I will help you write it.” And oh yeah, she was in all agreement with it. Read More
Then time goes on and didn’t hear much, and then all of a sudden there was one of the women who was a docent, and was in high on education, says to me, “Oh, did you hear Penny’s getting the gorillas today?” I said, “Huh? How could she possibly get… Read More
Well I can tell you right now, that was one of the least happy instances of my career. The moral, I’ll tell you the first the moral, don’t ever let an animal, your animal, out of your zoo. ‘Cause if you do, the chances of your getting it back are… Read More
And she became incredibly attached to it. And I understand it as a matter of fact, but I can’t condone it in this instance because that animal, that being a female Was very, was critical I thought, to our zoo’s breeding program, gorilla program. And I did not want, I… Read More
And Heine, I forget the guy’s name, but I know it, ’cause he actually was involved in the, one of the panda things going in Brookfield long time ago, back, way back. Heine, I forget his name, but he was the one that had them, or was selling them anyway. Read More
Oh yes, yeah. Yeah they did. Any that stand out, that you’re happy they came to you, and- Well, I think that the guy who, the fellow who did research with our, with the siamangs, I think, it wasn’t he was manipulating them or anything, but he was observing them. Read More
Then you take them out, and they’re sure to be a breeder. And that’s really what happened. That was mostly my research actually, with that way. But he came on and observed them, and he stayed there at night. I let him sleep outside in the zoo, because he observed… Read More
Can you tell us the story about Koko as you had to pick it up, and what lessons could be learned about dealing with scientists or science?… Read More
Was it important to you or to the zoo at the time you were there?… Read More
Well, important yes. But I would say that I didn’t go out, and I didn’t really try to get people to do it. Do research, that kind of thing. If someone came to me and I would listen to a proposal for, and maybe agree to it, which did happen. Read More
People did come to you with proposals?… Read More
They had people who had been around, sort of. Yeah, definitely that, and it was, I enjoyed it myself. I thought it was okay. Read More
While you were director, was science or research important to you?… Read More
I mean, you’d come from a research background. Read More