The numbers of black and white rhinos now are, they were improving and increasing over the last few years, but they’re having their problems now with poaching. There’s a rhino poached in Africa every eight hours now. And it takes a heck of breeding program to keep this flow positive. Read More
Now, has the International Rhino Foundation by its name done work in the countries where rhinos are found?… Read More
Did they have to press you into service and has it had some value in the conservation for the zoo?… Read More
No one has to press me into service for conservation project if I think that I can be benefit. And then in this case, I thought not so much for my expertise with rhinos, but because I knew the cast of players that had to work together to do it,… Read More
Were these positions ones that you felt you could make a difference in?… Read More
And how did you make that decision?… Read More
We have rhinos, but we’ve always had white rhinos. We didn’t, and don’t have enough land to provide enough space to do a large rhino group. One of the mistakes that the Valley’s Logical Society made when they established the Gladys Porter Zoo was to build us in an area… Read More
And I don’t think this sat real well with the powers to be in the zoo association at the time. And I was one of the recent past presidents of the association. And so I think they sort of thought that I’d maybe gone over to the other side, which… Read More
Did you want also Gladys Porter Zoo to specialize in rhinos as part of this endangered species?… Read More
I could recognize that there needed to be some help to get the ranchers and the zoo people together. And I was uniquely situated in that I knew the ranchers and I knew the zoo people. I knew they both were good groups, and I thought that it could work. Read More
And did you want to get involved or did they truly press you into service?… Read More
And how difficult was the situation that you found yourself in?… Read More
So they are still on some of these animals or they’re progeny are still on Texas zoos. Yes. Primarily the main one that, that has them now is, and they don’t wanna be named because they don’t want people to know where rhinos are for fear there will be some… Read More
I feel that it’s working. Out of the game conservation, you mentioned 1984, actually in 1983, there was a first meeting and they got together Game Coin primarily through the efforts of one of their prime movers in shakers, Harry Tenon from Fort Worth and made arrangements with the NATA… Read More
Well, in the beginning it was, I look at it as a misunderstanding and a posturing. We had people in AZA who said, “We are the rhino experts. We know what we’re doing.” And we had people on the ranchers that say, “Hey boy, we’ve been raising cattle and horses… Read More
Do you feel that that goal was accomplished?… Read More
So was this love hate relationship between the AZA and the ranchers?… Read More
So it was getting game coin, ranchers and the zoo association together. And it sort of, wasn’t a natural mix. It was between the ranchers and game coin, but the zoo association sort of looked on these as a bunch of Texas Cowboys that didn’t know what the heck they… Read More
And in fact for the Southern black rhino, we wouldn’t have a program would it not be for the Texas Ranchers involvement with it?… Read More
I had a great relationship with the Texas ranchers because I was right there and two of the ranchers who ended up with rhinos served on my board of directors. So I knew ’em well, they knew me and we already had a mutual rapport. I was asked to sort… Read More