So we had taken the precaution to contact the Santa Fe railway, arranged with their train master to have no trains to be under going under the bridge. There wasn’t much traffic on that route, and what traffic there was the railway company agreed not to run the trains over… Read More
So we went on the trailer, and Gabe Davis rode on the ladder that was attached to the outside of the trailer. We had the two police cars, one police car from the San Diego Zoo accompanied us. It was the San Diego head of security. He was our message… Read More
And the man that did that training was a old circus hand named Gabe Davis. Gabe Davis had been with the Ring Brothers in Barnum and Bailey Circus with their elephants and their livestock, including giraffes for many years, and then he’d settled and was a head keeper at the… Read More
And he’d use, “Rusty, lower your head. Steady, Rusty.” He’d use those terms over and over and he’d keep feeding rusty these half of onions. And then we’d put Rusty into the crate. He moved back the trailer up to the barn. It was easy to get rusty to go… Read More
And that was a critical thing because the bridge was just slightly would clear the crate of the animal on the trailer, but the animal’s head came about a foot and a half above the crate. And that was as close to a military operation as we ever achieved for… Read More
He had trucks, he had a knowledgeable staff, and so we ordered an elephant from Louis. The elephant, as I recall, was $4,000, the same price as the giraffe from San Diego Zoo. And we came over, and I was still only 25, just 26, I guess. And it was… Read More
That they were determined to show their strength and establish their power in the islands. And the shipping strike, 90 days is what I recall. Maybe it was longer, but it delayed construction. It backed up, our giraffe pen was delayed way more than the length of the strike. So… Read More
Well, Louis Goebel and his wife, Kathy, at Thousand Oaks, California, which is 50 miles north of LA, now huge booming suburb of LA. At that time, it was a tiny rural area that was essentially among other things, a movie set for westerns. And with the rolling hills covered… Read More
There’s gonna be a big demand for giraffes, it’s going to be slow to be met, because remember, giraffes usually only have one child, one baby at a time, and they have a long gestation. So it’s a slow process of creating a herd of giraffes. So I recommend you… Read More
So where’d we get the elephants?… Read More
And that was a goal that Mrs. Benchley particularly emphasized, get reading family groups. So early on after, the first requirement was to get the additional, an elephant as a companion to the one that we just acquired by gift. We didn’t need more chimpanzees, we needed another camel, a… Read More
And you’ve asked what I recommend, and I can recommend that really strongly for several reasons. One is they’re going to have to be imported from Africa, and they’re going to have to come through our quarantine stations here on the East Coast, it’s up in New Jersey, And they’re… Read More
Does that mean you went to the mainland?… Read More
Yes, and the way that worked, primarily the San Diego Zoo was essential. 80% of everything I did with mainland zoos was the San Diego Zoo. They were my friends, I was low on funds among other things, so I stayed as a house guest at Chuck Shaw’s, the reptile… Read More
And all of a sudden, instead of having… if you’re shipping baby elephants, orangs, tigers, all of the monkeys, all of the animals from Southeast Asia, no longer had to get on a ship and have a long circuitous route from Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, wherever they were originating. They had… Read More
The airlines were growing like mushrooms across the Pacific. And that demand was being met by shipments by dealers. But primarily the ones that I was involved with were mostly with friends that had zoos and almost entirely the San Diego Zoo and the Sydney Zoo. And I want to… Read More
Yes, one of the unique things that we had going for us, a very special condition was occurring. Remember the timeframe here, it’s right after, it’s the year after World War II is over. All of a sudden, those penned-up demands of those five, four war years where zoos could… Read More
And does that mean you’re traveling to the mainland?… Read More
And where did you go and why?… Read More
So I had to be very cautious. Cautious is the wrong word. I had a plan as well as possible to get animals that were hardy, the really delicate forms, Rarity wasn’t a critical thing. I wanted to get hardy adaptable animals that would do well. That wouldn’t have a… Read More