Yes, I made it a point to try and learn as much as I could about zoos in general and travel as much as I could and have visited zoos in pretty much across the US and also in Scotland, England some of the German zoos and Mexico. I’ve been… Read More
Now, when you were associate director your responsibilities were they also the budget of the zoo and how did that come about?… Read More
During your time as associate director, did you have the opportunity to visit other zoos from Columbus or Brownsville?… Read More
Working with the animals. Yep. Always has been, always will be. That’s why I got into veterinary medicine because I really like animals like working with them and respect them for their personalities and for their physical capabilities. Most wild animals are so much more physically capable of athletic feats… Read More
So Lamada ran into the concessionary, then sat down at a bench and he’s sitting there like this. And by then I had the second bottle of saturnine and popped him and five minutes later why we were taking him back. But there are a few animals that I’ve had… Read More
And as associate director, what was the favorite part of your job?… Read More
So with got another bottle so I could shoot him again, and went to shoot him again but before they could bring the other bottle, he attacked and I tried the blank routine again, it didn’t work. He just took his hand and shoved me aside and went on by… Read More
And I’ll take that back. We were using still sanoline at that time. which was a very potent drug, but shot him with the dart. And he went over and he laid down, put his hands behind his head, propped his feet up on the lower end of the rail. Read More
And as I got within about 10 feet of him, he jumped right up and he was ready to go. And so he came running at me and I cocked the capture rifle with no dart in it and put it in his face and shot the blank powder, the… Read More
And so here again, the keepers, you get the frantic radio call, Lamada is out and what do you do?… Read More
So we had to go and try and get him in. Well, I was at the office doing associate director work and the veterinary clinics on the other side of the zoo. So I had to have the technician bring the medical bag with the capture drugs and all. Lamada… Read More
Well, the female Katanga, his mate had gotten ill and she had a protozone infection and severe diarrhea and had become dehydrated. We had to remove her and put her in the veterinary clinic where we could get fluids into her. And Lamada was there alone and didn’t like it… Read More
And I just happened to be coming around the corner in a golf cart. And she saw me and I hollered her there and said, “Rusty, what are you doing?” And she screamed and gave the big smile like they do and came running over and she took my arm… Read More
I was a friend who brought her apples. And so, yeah, I’ve had some personal things. Another time and zoo guys are always talking about animals that get out. Our big male gorilla Lamida we had on an island exhibit, which I was totally against. When you ask about Warren… Read More
So food didn’t work too much on her. So she ran outside and there was a police unit there and she walked right over and climbed in the cop car and sat down in the passenger side and the policeman on the other side immediately vacated. And he didn’t want… Read More
And so he sat down on the floor and handed her a bottle of strawberry ripple. And so she’d drink some and then he’d pretend to drink some. And so he got about a half a bottle of wine into her and she got a little more mellow then. And… Read More
She was a female chimp and probably the single most agile chimpanzee that I’ve worked with. She escaped on two different occasions from the chimpanzee exhibit. And in one instance got out into the outside of the zoo, into the surrounding area. And she went into a supermarket and was… Read More
Were there animals at the zoo that you were intimately involved with and why?… Read More
I’ve always been partial to the great apes since that’s where I started in a zoo. And we had two gorillas in Brownsville that were the original ones that came down. They were imported as five year old animals, more or less. And they went to the Omaha Zoo originally… Read More
Oh, yes. And we made rounds. The curators made rounds every morning. Now they would have keeper meetings, keepers would come in and report any abnormalities in their area. Then they’d usually report it to the veterinarian. And then the veterinarian would go with the curator together to the various… Read More