I mean, probably the early eighties, pandas were early eighties, when we were lucky enough to receive the pandas. And they were at LA, that was during the Olympics. China lent the pandas, a pair of pandas to the LA zoo and during the Olympics. And in those days, pandas,… Read More
The mid eighties were probably some the best times at the zoo to this day. I mean, probably there was not, we were so lucky in terms of what happened in the mid eighties, gorilla, early eighties, Gorilla World opened up, we built, we designed and built the Primate Discovery… Read More
During this time that Saul was there, were you acquiring animals?… Read More
No, simple answer. Read More
So he knew that aspect better. And it was also good because he knew the right people and his connections were better than Saul. I mean, though Saul was a department head, and in the chain of command with Phil, they were on the same level. Everyone reported that the… Read More
Did they ever approach you?… Read More
But she didn’t report to Saul, like legally, she reported to the zoological society, but they had pretty good working relationship. I mean, something can always be better, I guess. Who’s to say, as people changed, after Saul retired, then in the interim, the assistant general manager of the recreation… Read More
Well personnel change, different people, whether it be when I was at San Francisco, I think I had six directors in my tenure there. So there was always a different relationship with society. With me, with directors. It was quite fluid, when Saul was there, he had a good relationship… Read More
What was the director’s relationship with the zoo society and what was your relationship with the zoo society and how did that affect management?… Read More
Well, the society was advocating, I mean their ability to raise money. they could go to the private sector and Lord knows, San Francisco bay area is a very rich area. There was a lot of money, a lot of philanthropic money in the area. They said, people were hesitant. Read More
What was the minuses of this changeover?… Read More
Many times when this changeover occurs in various zoos, but in San Francisco, when it’s changed over from public to private or run by the zoo society, in your opinion, what was the pluses?… Read More
The senior keepers managed were the day to day supervisors and would do the appraisals of the keepers in their section. Initially, probably, the zoo was very bad and the personnel department didn’t enforce it. Early on, evaluations were rarely done, but the senior keepers would be managing X amount… Read More
How did you manage the animal keepers though in the beginning, if you didn’t have direct authority to manage them?… Read More
No, ultimately like about in 2010, I became the department head for animal management and it was the largest department in the zoo. And I had myself and my staff of curators, man, managing the animal management department separate. And it was separate from the veterinary departments and it’s an… Read More
At this point in time, you indicated that you weren’t directly in charge at some point in your San Francisco job for the day to day of the keepers, but did you become responsible when the zoo society took over or never?… Read More
Well, it was eventually evolved. It was put into the contract that they would have to do it. The city would have to supply them with the uniforms. The city would have to clean the uniforms. The city would have to give them so many changes of uniforms. It eventually… Read More
How was that ultimately resolved?… Read More
I thought it was better for me personally, especially in terms of the managers and the retire. Here I am, I have tenure or 10, 15, 18 years, whatever years of service already with the zoo and into the city’s retirement system, I thought I was better off staying there,… Read More
Was your job gonna be in jeopardy or you just felt it was better for you personally?… Read More