In terms of zoos doing enough to influence conservation of such creatures as the tiger, the lion, and so forth, no. And there are some substantial individual efforts out there. I mentioned Bruce Brewer before he went off and got us started on the population genetics front. Bruce is now,… Read More
Are zoos doing enough with this one charismatic mega vertebrate?… Read More
And I’m speaking here in reference to a recent initiative that I’ve become involved with. The Big Cats Initiative that the National Geographic Society is supporting and funding. Finding projects that are doable, that will enroll peoples in different parts of the world in caring about, and caring for their,… Read More
It doesn’t work that way. We’ve mentioned the big cats. Estimates today are the tiger population is dwindling greatly. Read More
In terms of the major allocations to funding facilities to accommodate say big animals like elephants, and so on, versus expending such funds in respect to international conservation efforts. I’d say that’s a challenging question. But what I would say is that, and referring to the conservation question in general,… Read More
So I would say that then it’s justifiable to expend large sums in the tens of million. So for facilities in these urban institutions, if they can and do devote themselves to changing the, shall we say, the attitude, the behavior of these urban publics to the rest of the… Read More
Would that money be better spent internationally for conservation efforts in the wild?… Read More
(George chuckles) You’re asking about the balance of allocations in terms of energy and funding and facilities, et cetera, in respect to conservation, especially on an international scale, versus visitor services, versus maintenance of an animal collection. And that is, should we say an eternal challenge in terms of the… Read More
Today in today’s zoos, we see zoos spending 10, 20, $30 million on exhibits for elephants or great apes. Read More
Are there priorities? And then why?… Read More
But the whole notion of how to get people to care and express that caring in their behaviors, it seems to me that it would be beneficial if curators came with some familiarity with both for, shall we say, management purposes in terms of human relations with their keepers and… Read More
With the responsibility that directors have for a living collection, related facilities, guests, how does one balance these concerns with those related to international conservation and research?… Read More
Yes. But certainly training in their special interest fields, whether they’re mammal experts or birds or invertebrates, insects, or fish, or whatever. You would expect them to have experience in training in terms of the elements that would be important in the management of captive individuals. So you would expect… Read More
But I would also hope that they would come with some familiarity with some human behavior. And as you may know, we got started at Brookfield in connection with the Hamill Family Play Zoo. We got the field of conservation psychology started with Carol Saunders at the lead. Carol is… Read More
(George chuckles) What should be expected of curatorial staff these days?… Read More
How should curators be trained today?… Read More
And what do you think is expected or what should be expected of them?… Read More
Sometimes there’s been a complaint about where are the good curators, the curatorial professional staff coming from?… Read More
(chuckles) Not enough. Okay, zoos, in many cases, are afraid to confront animal welfare or animal rights groups that are anti-zoo or anti-aquarium. Sadly we even have people in top positions in our field who seem in line with that. In many cases, these non-biologists have to say, please give… Read More
There was one unfortunate incident where one of the group, when they were leaving, came back into a building where a live mouse was being fed to a certain reptile. And she was visibly upset by this notion that we would feed a live animal to another creature. And so… Read More