As you would imagine, the keepers who were taking care of it were thrilled (laughs) because they knew and I knew that it was only a matter of time before he seriously hurt or killed one of them. Some of the other keeper staff weren’t so happy about it, but… Read More
It has been said that many newer, younger zoo and aquarium professionals are computer curators, with little knowledge of the precepts of Heini Hediger, Lee Crandall, William Conway, or knowledge of the “International Zoo Yearbook.” How important for the future of zoos is it to keep this link with the… Read More
Well, I was a zoo director for 40 years, and I never figured that out. Only once in my 40 years did we euthanize a surplus animal, and we did that out of safety concerns for the staff. It was a bottle-raised hippopotamus that we tried for 10 years to… Read More
But we did. It was a commitment that we made. So I think, I’d like to think the keeper staff always knew that a curator or a veterinarian or myself was not gonna walk in one day and say, “Look, we gotta put that animal down. We’ve had it too… Read More
Did you have much feedback after that decision?… Read More
(Satch sighs) That’s a great question. I don’t know if I know the answer to it. I think three things. I was, I entered the profession at a time when veterinary medicine, exotic animal medicine was in its infancy. When I left the profession four years ago, it was an… Read More
So there were a number of things like that that were profession-wide that were very different 40 years after I started working. Read More
How should zoos deal with surplus animals?… Read More
I think so, where possible. It’s easier with some than others, but yes, I think that’s important. We tried to do it. Read More
What was the most significant change in the care of animals under your leadership and why?… Read More
Hmm. (laughs) A lot of things. The animals had to be awake. They had to move, in most cases. They had to appear to be happy, whatever that means. You know, if animals were… You know, there’s nothing better in the zoo than breeding lions. You know, people will stand… Read More
But the worst thing were sleeping animals or no animals, and that was one of the things that drove me, would at times drive me absolutely insane. And we were talking earlier about doing rounds. I walk out in the zoo, and the maintenance department has closed this exhibit and… Read More
Should all newly constructed exhibits incorporate a conservation conclusion?… Read More
He tried. (laughs) He tried. I don’t know. Nobody is gonna probably remember what I went through in those first five years, but, you know, I was… Green behind the ears doesn’t even begin to describe how little I knew about zoos. And the challenges that I was handed just… Read More
That’s it. What would you, talk about animals. Read More
What would you say were the keys to maintaining your visitors’ attention?… Read More
And it’s been that, it was that way for 40 years for me. You just meet really great people who are almost singularly focused on one thing, and that’s the animals that they take care of. Read More
How would you like to be remembered?… Read More
Your legacy?… Read More
No, I don’t believe that for a second, no, no. I don’t go down that rabbit hole. You’ve talked about the profession. Read More