I mean obviously no women. No women, I was one of two college graduates they had that were keepers. Then the fellows, kind of a talker but they didn’t do anything. Got frustrated by him. Then I saw where (indistinct) and I applied and may 16 1967 I was interviewed… Read More
When you came to the zoo what was the keeper forsight?… Read More
The things I wanted to do I saw. And also in san francisco, the keepers picked their assignments. Which was pretty strange and they went by seniority. There was a really good guy responsible for the aviary, to take care of the animals and the birds in the aviary and… Read More
Yeah, Victoria Crown pigeon. Pair on Victoria Crown pigeons were trying to nest up in the rafters and it was only a turkey in there, in the aviary. The aviary was just a mish mash of whatever they had. The turkey was living in the nest the crown pigeons were… Read More
Victoria?… Read More
But I wanted to do more and I saw things like, I saw a pair of what are those big pigeons?… Read More
But he wasn’t really bothered about zoos or birds and he was afraid of most mammals and the other fella was his boss, he just wanted to see people working. If you were out in the yard raking then that was fine. You were doing something. Raking the yards or… Read More
I was, two days a week I worked at the ape house with the apes and monkeys. Some of the monkeys. Then two days a week I worked in the aviary and then one day I worked wherever they told me to go. And I loved it because I got… Read More
So your responsibilities, what were your responsibilities as an animal keeper?… Read More
And he gave me projects to go through animal records and so on. And I got an article, a co-author in the international year book. Birthing thing of deer and antelope in the Sanfrancisco zoo. That was great. Read More
So he was very nice to me and I said is there anything I can do for you?… Read More
He had maybe just a pair or orangs and two pairs of gorillas. They’d switch the gorillas around and then the gorillas bred for them even though it was just a pair. The first gorilla was born I believe but that female that went to that woman in one of… Read More
It was a, well it started January of 67. It was a typical hodge podge collection. It had African elephants and Asian elephants, they had snow leopards and black leopards I think if I remember correctly. They had male chimps. Only male chimps. Kerry Baldwin the previous director did not… Read More
Yeah What was the zoo like, what was the collection like, what type of zoo was it that was in 1966?… Read More
He was a character. I found an apartment in a week and moved into my apartment and changed my address and whenever anyone came to the zoo, from another zoo, I always made sure I met them. That was when I met Marvin Jones. He visited one time. Then I… Read More
So great. So to be a keeper in sanfrancisco you had to be a resident of sanfrancisco the city. He gave me a friends address. He said use this address when you go down to the cottage to fill out papers for the job. I knew I didn’t have any… Read More
His name was Ron Ruther. Why don’t you write to him. So I wrote Ron Ruther a letter saying that I was looking for a curator job and he very nicely said why don’t you come and see me. So I went up to sanfrancisco. (indistinct) Obviously she was teaching… Read More
1966, I was out of college and we used to have field trips over Fresno zoo. I had a professor who knew I was looking for a zoo job. He loved zoos and he actually applied for the job that Bill Conway got when Bill applied for a curator job… Read More
How did you get the job and do you remember the year you started?… Read More
Some zoos will survive without community support, like the Bronx zoo. The Bronx zoo, you see all this operating money from the city of New York. Everything it needed for operating was from the city. Any construction, the city would pay half of any construction of new facilities but I… Read More