Interview 31514 – Caption Index: 295
Would you explain what the Ackerman acronyms mean?… Read More
Would you explain what the Ackerman acronyms mean?… Read More
Yeah. Well, you know, that was a long time ago. And so, you know, I, as you know, mark and, and others, most of the zoo directors, 50 years ago, we were animal people. And, and their basic job was, you know, getting animals for the zoo and, and keeping… Read More
What skillset do you think a zoo director needs today as compared to when you started?… Read More
I mean, even when I started in, in Cleveland 35 years ago or whatever, you know, the records were on three by five cards, you know, and then we started having ISIS where we had those little computer cards. You stick in a machine and stuff. And of course now… Read More
Or, or was it just the senior staff that knew what the mission was?… Read More
I, I think everybody had some sense of it. I wouldn’t say a hundred percent, you know, because maybe they didn’t really care. It was just a job, particularly as you said, when you get to concession workers and stuff. But no, I think most people do. It was posted… Read More
And, and, and certainly anybody with any management ability had a, say a yearly work program and their staff had to know that this is what they were supposed to do at this time. And I, I think that worked out well. Read More
Everybody understood their role in the plan because everybody had a job, not in a job description, but a yearly plan that fit that mission and those goals of our plan. And I think, and then that of course with maybe a good sense of humor and tenacity to get… Read More
Did people lower than your senior staff understand the mission, the keepers and even the concession people?… Read More
My ego, I guess. I don’t know. You know, I, I actually said, I wrote it for my grandkids just so they would not, and by the way, they have absolutely no interest in it. But, so I wrote it and I sell, it was a self-published book. It’s not… Read More
Hmm. It’s an interesting question. I, I don’t know that I was a good zoo director, but I, you know, I, I would guess that one is my passion for saving wildlife and wild places and doing that through work, the work in the zoo. I also think I was… Read More
What do you think made you a good zoo director?… Read More
They have to have good safety. You don’t really see the safety procedure. But all those things make great zoo, a great zoo that doesn’t have a really high end conservation program. I mean, field conservation program, I’m not interested in as, as a great zoo. So it’s not just… Read More
So in your long career, what prompted you to write a book about your life in the zoo? Profession?… Read More
But again, resource management have great education programs. So you gotta have all those things to, for me to be a great zoo. So when I see these lists, nobody has the same list, by the way I said a lot of people have the, some of the same zoos… Read More
You’ve said that there are many good zoos, but what makes a good zoo, in your opinion, a great zoo?… Read More
So I got a couple more countries. So that was kind of fun too. And it was a small cruise, I mean small by, by standards now it was like 400 or 500 people. So it was a huge, huge cruise ship. Read More
Hmm. Now that’s a very good question. I would just look at the a CA criteria. So a great zoo would have all, would be very good at all that great animal care, good veterinary department. When I rate zoos, I’m not doing it for life for a magazine or… Read More
How did that happen?… Read More
So, you know, I like to go to zoos. I like to see different things. So not just to get ideas from my zoo, although I do, you know, I’ve done all these accreditation inspections and I always say that I get more, particularly when it’s working, not now, but… Read More