The public attitude issues have had a big change on zoos. I would say those two things are probably had more of an impact on zoos and aquariums than anything. If I was to go out now, after your first couple years at the zoo, now you’re getting your feet… Read More
We were constantly faced by their criticisms and I think that we probably didn’t react to their criticisms correctly when they first came out. I think we did a lot of knee jerks and we reacted to their criticism instead of being proactive about it. We should have gotten probably… Read More
When you look at the majority of zoos then were under Park and Recreation Departments, under municipal governments. Zoos were always step childs and as a result, if an animal exhibit got old, it got old, make it work and to the point it couldn’t work anymore. A lot of… Read More
Well, I think from the collection standpoint, from managing the animal collections, certainly the federal regulations as they occurred, whether it was the Endangered Species Act or whether it was the Newcastle’s problem that caused the big quarantine issues and all the regulations that came up the road. Every time… Read More
And it was a Grateful Dead concert and all the Deadheads were selling earrings and smoking funny things and doing all that stuff. And from there, it got to be a pretty good business. We had lots of big rock, James Taylor, a couple of times. A lot of country… Read More
What would you say would be a couple of things that might come to your mind as major events that affected zoos in general and obviously had an effect on your zoo?… Read More
(laughs) I thought, oh my God, what am I into here?… Read More
We could feed a 6,000 person picnic fried chicken all day long but that part of the business really grew. It was really a very successful entity at the zoo. One of the other things that made Oklahoma City Zoo unique is it had an amphitheater and it had been… Read More
And so, I got up that morning and I walked up my little lane, opened the big wooden gate and stared out at an interesting group of people. Read More
And then we brought in a group to help us run ’em. Help ’em get and eventually we contracted with the group to do that and we built a new gift shop. And so, it just took time. We had to, obviously, some people changes helped that. We got rid… Read More
Can you describe visitor services when you first were at the zoo and how did you start to think about what you wanted to do to change it and were you able to do that?… Read More
When I first went to Oklahoma City, the concessions area was really fairly rudimentary. There were, I’m trying to think, I think there was just one or two refreshment stands being maned by high school kids, typical. And there was a gift shop that was full of all kinds of… Read More
Once in a while I would take time to do that. When I really got uptight, I’d go over to the greenhouse and the horticulture crew would put me to work planting seeds. That was good therapy because nobody ever came looking for me there. (laughter) And so, I did… Read More
Now, once in a while, I’d break off and particularly with the bird curator and we’d sit down and we’d talk birds and we’d talk about nothing else, we’d talk about birds and we’d talk about okay, is this technique working?… Read More
Or how’s this species doing, are they nesting?… Read More
Time wouldn’t allow me to do that anymore. Read More
And did that happen to you and how’d you keep that connection, if indeed you could?… Read More
I did miss the animals. I missed going into an incubator and turning eggs. I missed helping chicks outta shells. I missed that. That was a hands on thing. And it was something I’d done for so long that it was second nature. Brought me home, the kind of things… Read More
I think that it was more of a strain on my available time being a director than what I had previously thought it might be but it wasn’t just animal issues anymore. When I’d go out on the grounds, I was looking at trash cans. (laughter) I was looking at… Read More
Did you do it, do you think it’s important?… Read More