If you have your own money to do it. And a private individual can come pretty close to having a lot of those things done. The only thing I can tell you, whether you’re a zoological society, even those that are almost pure like San Diego, I mean, they still… Read More
In 2000, non AZA, it’s kind of a two part thing. In 2000, non AZA zoos and private breeders were essentially banned from participating in SSP plans. Read More
Did that hurt or help zoos?… Read More
What issues would you like to see zoos address in the future?… Read More
I think the biggest one, I mean, without animals, we don’t have zoos. That’s plain and simple. We can talk all sorts of things about various SSPs and TAGs and now safe in dealing with outside entities and commercial and private. But there’s no question to me from the biology… Read More
And there’s a thin line how San Diego handled that. But there’s no question in my mind that that has gotta be resolved. And you know, that can eventually go the other way too. There are populations in the wild out there that it’s easy to say well, you send… Read More
What issues caused you the most concern during your career and how do you see the future regarding these same concerns?… Read More
You know, the one interesting concern for me and I still don’t know where I fully lie on it, but is the traveling exhibits. You know, we had the white alligator, we got the koalas and Komodo dragons and you know, saw how much visitation they brought in. And I… Read More
I was surprised of some zoos when they did things like that, but it comes down to your gut reaction and you know, the easier things were those white alligators or those big snapping turtles. I mean, white alligators look like chocolate to me, but it brought in a lot… Read More
And they’re all meeting at the same time at the midyear meeting. And they’re getting exposed to the older ones. They’re getting mentored at a great basis. I think it’s showing great results. Bird people got it together in that aspect. What changes have you seen during your years in… Read More
Or if it’s a hundred degrees out, they’re at the movie theater where it’s nice and air conditioned. And it wasn’t so much other cultural institutions at times. They want a more personal experience coming to the zoo than they did in the old days. I mean, I think it’s… Read More
We did a fundraising thing yearly called Zoobilee that averaged 60 some restaurants, 25 to 30 different bars, sometimes different kinds of specialty drinks at some of them. Five, six bands, a live auction, a silent auction. The last two years there, we grossed over a million dollars in one… Read More
I’m convinced that everybody wants a top of the line curator. They want a Mark Rosenthal there. Well, there’s a young Mark Rosenthal and there’s a senior Mark Rosenthal. And you’ve got to realize that we all start out green at some point in time, and you’ve gotta find that… Read More
Who’s gonna be those people?… Read More
I take great pride in spotting. I spotted six people in the first two weeks at Sedgwick County Zoo that impressed me and all six of ’em became zoo directors or curators at other zoos. And there’s talent out there. You’ve just gotta spot it and then develop it. I… Read More
There seems to be more of an interest and concern about quality of life besides outside the zoo in the community and where you’re gonna work. And I think it makes it hard for some. I mean, bringing somebody to Kansas from the east or west coast was difficult ‘cos… Read More
That’s one I love to talk about at various times. I too had some trouble at various times. My example was at one time, we had our first herp position come up. I had six people to pick from in the top of the field. And the next time it… Read More
And on the other half of that equation, and like I said right now like on our bird curator. They’ve got a great bird curator there. If he left or got promoted, there’s two good in-house candidates that he has spent a lot of time mentoring and we have made… Read More
Is there a good in-house candidate and what can you throw their way should that come up?… Read More
That’s accentuating the positive at all times. And you know, I only had a handful of letters I never answered, but I know that one lady that for years complained about the elephant exhibit. I answered every single one of her letters. I didn’t live up to ’em as quickly… Read More