And some people might think it’s because of who your father knew. And it actually was. It was interesting. I found out a month before I graduated that I was going to graduate. I had forgotten some hours I had earned at a marine biology course I took down in… Read More
After that, I was on my own. He got on the phone and he’s talking to some guy named Clayton who I don’t know where or who. And it was real clear early in the conversation that Clayton didn’t have part-time summer jobs. And then he called some guy named… Read More
I had a garage apartment two blocks from the zoo. I could lay in the Murphy bed and touch three out of the four walls and put my foot in the bathroom and had a Triumph Motorcycle and thought I was king of the world. And I worked in what… Read More
The head of the department knew the zoo world, knew the personalities because of the combined National Park and Recreation Association, the AAZPA within a division, so he knew who all the players were. And it had other zoo people that had gone to the program there, George Bidel Jr. Read More
And how did you get, what kind of job did you get at the San Antonio Zoo?… Read More
That was 1972 I believe to 1973. Read More
What kind of job did you get and how did you get this job?… Read More
Would you say that helped your wanting to be in the profession?… Read More
You know, actually a combination of, you know, great for show and tell. I had pieces of elephant tusk or teeth and a feather collection and things like this, and growing up in Washington, DC, especially when you got into teenage years, it’s a fabulous town. Everything is free, great… Read More
I thought that I wanted to be a veterinarian, probably a zoo veterinarian and quizzed out of some classes, but I got a D in trigonometry and that was the end of my veterinary career before it started. So I switched over to zoology and, you know, didn’t know for… Read More
1955, my father was fascinated by working with exotic animals in vet school. Actually the head of the department was also the zoo director in Manhattan, Kansas at the Sunset Zoo. So he had applied for a job at the San Diego Zoo and didn’t get it. And Charlie Schroeder… Read More
And so during the week I’d asked at dinner table, what time today?… Read More
Knowing that I get to see it cut up. My dad, I didn’t realize how frustrating it was for him ‘cos here he is trying to save things and I’m getting excited about things dying, but he was basically the full-time vet for about a year and a half when… Read More
Interestingly enough, my father was the contract veterinarian for what was then called the Portland Zoo. And he actually helped start the zoological society there, the friends group, but he did his work out there in the evening. So I would go out as a four and five year old… Read More
And so I’d take the train in. It was five bucks to Kansas City and spend the weekend at the zoo. Now back up a little, because you went to Washington, we’ll talk later in detail, but you went to Washington, DC because your father, ‘cos you were exposed to… Read More
Your father went to Washington, why?… Read More
Mark Crandall Reed. I was born in Portland, Oregon on November 28th, 1949, and I was in the zoo profession for about 44 years. And actually I was the executive director of the Sedgwick County Zoological Society was the official title, which operated the zoo for the county. Read More
Now you have a unique kind of history, but when you were growing up, what zoos were you exposed to?… Read More
The profession is filled with individuals who have a passion and a love for what they’re doing, most of them. Some of them nowadays that are getting involved, I’m not sure why they’re getting involved at all. I don’t know if it’s because they think it’s important for their ego… Read More
How would you like to be remembered?… Read More