Well, my family was involved in one way in that the animals I brought home to bottle raise for instance, like a lion, and a tiger, and cheetah, puma. We had a marmoset. One of the problems I faced, veterinary problems I faced was a gelada baboon that we had… Read More
And so I saw that wasn’t working and I think maybe it’s a little better if you’re a little bit separated from the employees you work with. Read More
How involved was your family in your profession?… Read More
Well, I think there are two basic ways of managing an institution or managing a group of people. One is to be a good old boy, be a friend with all of them and slap them on the back and go out drinking with them, and whatever. The other one… Read More
How would you describe your management style?… Read More
I made daily rounds to all exhibits and talked to as many of the keepers as I could find. And I tried to keep track of everything that was going on. I think it’s important that if you’re gonna manage something, you gotta get out there and see what’s going… Read More
So that was when I did take on the medical examiner and we looked through it and sent tissues off the CDC and they finally decided it died from a distemper virus. But it just very suddenly overcame it and killed it. It had been vaccinated, so it was a… Read More
Did you make daily rounds as zoo director?… Read More
Oh no. We solicited an interest in them. Actually this millionaire, Ralph Scott was very active in the zoo society and with the zoo. Had mentioned that he might be able to get these animals. And we said, sure by all means. And of course then the white tiger was… Read More
And I think that all gave us a new perspective on things too. We’re gonna talk a little bit more about those particular subjects. But let me go back to the zoo society for a minute. You mentioned a white tiger, and you mentioned rhinoceros, Indian rhinoceros. Read More
Was that animals that you as you’re director were soliciting an interest in or did they just arrive in your doorstep?… Read More
And he could crush against the wall, or against the floor or whatever. And it was just a disaster waiting to happen. We were horrified when we saw it, we told him. They must have changed him since the (indistinct). ‘Cause I haven’t heard of anybody gotten killed up there… Read More
And I’d have to say that everybody was very helpful. San Diego, Los Angeles, I’m trying to remember Milwaukee, I think St. Louis, Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, Bronx Zoo, Toronto Zoo. Toronto was an absolute disaster. That was a new zoo, had just opened. I don’t know who designed that zoo,… Read More
You think these will work?… Read More
What are our problems?… Read More
What do you think?… Read More
And their engineer that worked with us, was a really nice guy, really sharp guy. And he and I, and Strawser took a trip around the United States to visit nine different zoos. One in Canada actually, Toronto Zoo. And we took our plans with us, and we sat down… Read More
And the zoological society hired him for nine months. His goal was to develop a master plan. I worked with him. And to build a model,. Was seven feet square, as I recall, of the zoo. And he finished this in nine months, and we presented this before the county… Read More
And the county hired a firm. They wanted to hire an architectural firm, to design a new zoo. We said, no. We’re the designers. What we need is an engineering firm to make it work. And they did listen to us, and we did hire an engineering firm, not the… Read More
And then he eventually became curator of birds. And so he had zoo experience. Had, I dunno, six, seven years zoo experience. But being a good artist, he decided he would get out of the zoo field. He moved to San Diego and started doing art shows all around the… Read More