After the Hurricane Betsy problem, we knew we had to refurbish the zoo as best we could without getting into a lot of big expense. And we knew we had to build a new zoo. One thing the county did was they instituted an admission charge to the zoo, to… Read More
How do those things start to evolve?… Read More
That are that dangerous. And did other zoos… You lost a number of animals. We lost a lot of animals during that hurricane and the other zoos, some of them offered to keep some of the animals. And it seems like we did ship some of them out to other… Read More
So in the aftermath, you lost animals. Were your thoughts, let’s build a new zoo. Were your thoughts we need to replace the zoo, was the city government coming to your assistance to say, okay, we have to rebuild and we’ll do it right here. Read More
The only adjustments we made to that plan after the Hurricane Betsy was we didn’t put the reptiles on the floor anymore. We put them up in the exhibits. We bagged them all. We only had a few poisonous snakes ’cause I really didn’t like keeping poisonous snakes. We just… Read More
And afterward, were there adjustments to the plan, as you looked at the devastation and what had occurred?… Read More
Did you have a hurricane plan before this occurred or emergency plan for fire and different things and were hurricanes part of it?… Read More
Yes. We had an emergency plan for… We really wouldn’t have any fires out there. Everything was kind of isolated. But for hurricanes, yes. We had a plan. We went through who did what when, and where we went, and we listened to the different hurricane alerts. So we could… Read More
But mainly they were small and mainly reptiles. And then we had to regroup and get everything cleaned up. And that was really what started us seriously thinking about building a new zoo away from the ocean. Read More
So my wife got the kids together and the dog, and she went into town and got a motel room. And then the thing curved north. So she packed up the kids, went back home again, and that afternoon, the thing turned around and came back south. So it came… Read More
But then the next day they came and got us. Now that storm also broke loose, a barge that broke one of the bridges out at Key Biscayne so we couldn’t get home. Couldn’t get to the zoo. The army corps engineers came in and built a temporary bridge, a… Read More
1965, that was an interesting experience because I had a gallbladder attack in the summer of 1965 in fact two of them. And I went to see my physician and he said that… They did some tests and he said, “You’ve got gall bladder disease “and you’re gonna have to… Read More
What happened?… Read More
And then sewed her back up, put her back in the exhibit again with the male. But we took the baby home and hand raise it. And our kids especially were involved with hand raising it. They named it David Crockett (chuckles). I guess, partly because of the funny way… Read More
And then almost every evening we rode our bikes and we were so close to zoo. We just ride off to the zoo, ride around the zoo at night. That gave me another way to look at the animals out there. And of course there were little lakes and ponds… Read More
Well, my family was involved in one way in that the animals I brought home to bottle raise for instance, like a lion, and a tiger, and cheetah, puma. We had a marmoset. One of the problems I faced, veterinary problems I faced was a gelada baboon that we had… Read More
And so I saw that wasn’t working and I think maybe it’s a little better if you’re a little bit separated from the employees you work with. Read More
How involved was your family in your profession?… Read More
Well, I think there are two basic ways of managing an institution or managing a group of people. One is to be a good old boy, be a friend with all of them and slap them on the back and go out drinking with them, and whatever. The other one… Read More
How would you describe your management style?… Read More