Interview 15695 – Caption Index: 540
What made you a good zoo director?… Read More
What made you a good zoo director?… Read More
So, Judy the elephant had spent the majority of her life there. When we had a definite confirmation that she had cancer, we had a press conference and we let the community know immediately. Judy has got a health issue. Now, everybody knows about cancer. There’s some cancers you can… Read More
Judy the elephant and the new dolphin Lily and that type of thing?… Read More
I don’t remember so much about the death of Lily. Those animals didn’t belong to the zoo. And when it came to and I don’t even know that I remember why the animal died but I think our veterinarian and the veterinarian that worked with that particular entity, I think… Read More
How did you handle the deaths of popular animals?… Read More
Well, anytime we had a new exhibit opening or something. Oh yeah, absolutely. And you had have ’em for that. I said that they’re good on one side and they’re evil on the other. Yeah, they were most helpful when we got a new animal in, they were always looking… Read More
I think every institution does. And now every institution has deaths of animals that occur. They’re all die at some point in time. Read More
Did you ever see the value of using or were you able to use the media in your favor?… Read More
“Well, we contacted the Oklahoma City Zoo and they said, ‘No comment.'” That could have been the end of it but oh no, we felt that we needed to tell our side of the story but there wasn’t any way of what you were going to say were they’re going… Read More
And when you see the final cuts come through, then you realize that they have cut out some very salient points that I was trying to make and it’s not that they piece phrases together, they just leave it hanging. It’s a real art I’m sure but that’s what it… Read More
What are they going to say?… Read More
We sold an animal, a Speke’s gazelle. Hell, this is all public record I guess. We sold a Speke’s gazelle to an animal dealer with the caveat that he was to take it to either the San Diego Zoo, which had a collection that Speke’s gazelles or he was to… Read More
And the first person they approached was San Diego and Jim Dolan And he figured out real quick what they were up to. And he called me, he says, “Brace yourself. Guess what?” And he told me, they even sent me a copy of the tape that they did. So,… Read More
What was your experience and why were you involved?… Read More
So, I was always very cautious around the media. You’re looking at I’m a victim of 60 Minutes. So, I watched them operate and you wanna see some real pros operate and distort and take things outta context, they’re great at it. And I was a firsthand witness to it… Read More
I did not like the media. I didn’t feel the media, you couldn’t trust them. They were out for what they wanted. It always used to bug me when they tried to tempt you and try to goad you into saying something. I can remember a staff member making a… Read More
It was just stuff that they hadn’t been exposed to another way of doing it. So, they were still caught in this twilight zone of non-evolution. As the director of the Oklahoma City Zoo, you had to deal with the media. Obviously there were high points and low points as… Read More
How did you view the media?… Read More
Okay. I gotta think about that a little bit when after I’ve said it. Particularly at Kansas City. Now, I started my career at the Kansas City Zoo and I basically ended my career at the Kansas City Zoo in this part-time consulting capacity. A lot of the practices that… Read More
Yeah, yes I did see common mistakes. I would also see mistakes that would keep repeating themselves. Read More