I said, “No.” He said, “Well, you better get one, we own a gorilla.” And that’s how quickly it went and I got busy. We built that exhibit for what $80,000, the whole thing. It’s a big yard with walls and pool and things to climb on and indoor heated… Read More
Then he calls me and says, “You got a place to put a gorilla?… Read More
Yeah. About apprentice and the auction. Anyway. Okay, I’ll start there. They were going to auction this gorilla, the animals off and a friend of ours, well, one of the shareholders in the zoo, he bought the gorilla for $37,000. Read More
You did?… Read More
Thousand Oaks, California probably. They supplied movie animals. To bring a gorilla, the world’s largest low land gorilla into Pensacola was the first gorilla ever in the whole state except for down south like Tampa. So when we came in, it was a big operation. And really interesting is that… Read More
It was our greatest popular year. Tell me about him, tell me who he was, how you acquired and tell me what his importance was. Colossus was a girl that was purchased in a pet shop in New York by this big pet shop company in New York, I can’t… Read More
How important and what was the influence of Colossus to the Gulf Breeze Zoo?… Read More
Our biggest bill- Was advertising. Was advertising. That was under an ad agency handling that. I got on them about it because they were doing all kinds of things in the community, but they never brought the zoo into any of those things. Sandy Sansi is a Chevrolet owner in… Read More
For a while we were paying what, $80,000 a year?… Read More
Your marketing is part of your lifeblood, and unless you… One of the things that I found that people who want to help you, like a public relations firm or things like that, well, they don’t mind spending your money. they do not mind spending your money, a lot of… Read More
Would you tell me about the importance of marketing of my zoo?… Read More
If I was a young director, what would you tell me?… Read More
How important is the marketing?… Read More
That’s what makes you, that’s what pays your bills, the community, they come into the zoo. So I’m out there in the public all the time. Because she’s in theater, I’m involved with rotary, I’m Paul Harris fellow, I’m involved with tourist development. He did years of public speaking. Tourist… Read More
How important was the community to the success of the zoo, the community support?… Read More
I think he probably should know his limitations because I had some limitations, financial, I’m not a financial person. I think you’ve got to like people, you have to love people. Because you’re dealing with people all the time, either the staff or the public. And if you haven’t got… Read More
What would you consider, based on your experience, to be important things that a zoo director should know today?… Read More
And board choice perhaps. But they tried, they tried, and then we had to take the park back and put it up for sale, close it. 1,000 questions come to mind, so let me try and get 1, 2, 3. Number one, just on what you’ve talked about, I’m gonna… Read More
There was a time when the zoo was run by society and it went to hell in a hand basket, when the society had it. That was another dream that the board had, is that someday we would be able to hand the zoo over. We were a for-profit, but… Read More
But I would call people and say, “Look, we’re gonna pay you.” But I had to Rob Peter to pay Paul and that kind of thing. I had no background in financial aspects either. Our board, there were six of us, six investors, they gave me the title of controller. Read More