Well, I think that you’re never going to, there’s gonna be a segment of the population that are always gonna say that. And no matter what you do, you could say, “I just gave that elephant 50 acres.” And they could say, “Yeah, it’s not 100.” I mean, so there’s… Read More
You just have to say, “We are doing a good job of what we are doing here. We’re not doing a half job. We’re doing a wonderful job. We’re explaining what we’re doing and here’s the answer.” And so you’re never. Some people will, “Oh, I see what you’re doing,”… Read More
But the thing is zoo’s gotta be a leadership role. The wild is shrinking, they have got to show that they care, not, yeah, no, zoos don’t take animals out of the wild anymore, or they shouldn’t in any number. Sometimes for new blood lines. You’re talking very, very, very… Read More
But the point is they should be able to, to me, help the animals in the wild or else, why are we here?… Read More
They’re the main educators. And that includes small and medium size. Every zoo can do some portion. Every zoo can do breeding. “Well, we’re a small zoo. We don’t breed.” Breed the parcelhus snail. Breed certain things that you can. Make it, it’s a big deal. If you don’t, “Oh,… Read More
You don’t have to have 50 ’cause you’re not the biggest zoo, but if you even have one, you’re showing your community and community support for a zoo, whether it’s in a small community or big community is solved. If you don’t have the community’s support and they don’t think… Read More
So with all that in mind, what is the future of zoos?… Read More
What’s their role? What’s your part?… Read More
Well, I think part of the main role for zoos as far as I’m concerned is they’ve got to be part and show a leadership role in the in situ work of animals in nature. They have a giant audience. They have potentially money. You’ve gotta make sure your house… Read More
Only in the last X number of years have there been more women zoo directors and more women keepers. Certainly there’s a lot in the field now than there were 10, 15 years ago. Read More
But are there more minorities that can add to this?… Read More
So those are, I think are some of the issues that zoos and the national association could be tackling for the next generation. Yeah. Yeah. Read More
I think you have to have, the curatorial staff get as, again, that’s up to a director, give them as much professional growth as possible. The zoo association has some wonderful classes about a lot of things now. You should be throwing those people at every one of those classes… Read More
So what are the largest professional problems facing US zoos today, US zoos?… Read More
And what can we do to correct the problem?… Read More
Well, I think one of the big things and is gonna continue to be a big thing is zoo’s relationship with the animal welfare, animal rights organizations. I don’t know that they’re ever going to see eye to eye, but I think that it’s up to the zoo association, AZA… Read More
Well, I think at one, you gotta have a sense of being, you gotta be prepared to fail and to learn from those failures. You have to try and continue to have a sense of humor ’cause it’s gonna carry you through the dark times. You have to know that… Read More
I’m gonna follow up with that because there’s a constant complaint from zoo directors that there are too few good curators in our community today. Read More
How should curators be trained today?… Read More
Not as much as they should. I think you gotta learn, again, we’ve talked about it, but I think you gotta be a student of the game. You gotta know, not only the his, I believe the history of your profession, but you gotta know the history of your institution. Read More