Well, I think what had happened was that there was, looking at the position maybe a bit differently and trying to use some development ideas for assisting the zoo. They went to Abra Prentice Wilkin who was a life member of the board and a big supporter of Lincoln Park… Read More
She asked me what I felt was something that was needed if I could do something for the zoo. And I always felt that the professional development, the professional growth of the animal keepers was so very important because they’re the backbone of the animal management of the zoo. Read More
This changing a little bit, but this certainly affects you in this newer position. During the late 1960s, early 70s, the face of Americans zoos are changing. So between things like federal legislation and burgeoning interest in animals and endangered species, zoos had to adapt to survive. Read More
How did Lincoln Park Zoo change and continue to respond to such pressure?… Read More
Well, I think that Lincoln Park, and I’d like to say a number of zoos, we weren’t so unique, but I think Lincoln Park and the staff at the zoo understood what was going on and the need to get with the times, and to make sure that all the… Read More
I know that there was one gentleman who used to import animals, and when CITEs came and some of these things, he said, “Well, I don’t wanna do all that paperwork. I’m just not gonna do it anymore.” Which was his prerogative. But if you wanted to continue in a… Read More
We had people from the operations crew who would man the forklifts to get the crate from the dock down to the truck. And so we just had a lot of people that managed this and it really was a giant team effort coordinated. My senior person who was running… Read More
And it was really a team effort. And I couldn’t thank those people enough for, in a sense, making me look good. But for the whole project being successful. Yeah. No, it, huge effort. Read More
Let’s see. What was it?… Read More
So with that in mind, can you talk about some details about the staff and your interaction with them especially for this major move of the animals in the large mammal building for the renovation?… Read More
I mean, that’s a huge effort again. Well, that was a wonderful learning experience. When the large mammal house, that was built in 82, was going to be renovated, essentially gutted inside to make the Regenstein African Journey building with all new animals, focus on Africa, we had to, before… Read More
And you’re providing oversight. Yeah. I mean, I always joked and said, “I was there.” It’s not like I did the three months of training. The keepers did the heavy lifting on this, but we had the oversight to try and make sure everything was going well. When we moved… Read More
And no picture was taken of us together, but I have the memory. Yeah. Yeah. Wonderful. Wonderful. So your career moves on. 1996, you’re become curator of large mammals and carnivores. Read More
So how did your position change and how did this all come about?… Read More
Well, what happened again, the zoo was evolving and the zoo decided that they would have some division of the mammal section and that primates would kind of be a separate discipline, a curator of primates, as opposed to a curator of mammals that everything would be under. And when… Read More
And other times, you were called the chairman of the depart, they had different iterations, but essentially, your job responsibilities were the same. The titles changed, but it had not as much scope of all the mammals in the zoo. I gotcha. Read More
I did have that rope handling experience. (interviewer laughs) I was interested too. You mentioned the ambassador to Venezuela. In 1982, you had the opportunity to meet with His Royal Highness, Prince Phillip. Read More
How did that happen?… Read More
Well, the zoo sometimes, in any zoo, sometimes attracts personalities and people who are famous for one reason or another. And Lincoln Park had its share of people who visited the zoo. But the one that stands out, which was just interesting was through a large donor. His Royal Highness… Read More
And I thought, “How wonderful, I wanna be able to tell my relatives I met royalty,” just for the fun of it. And when he was going to be in the building, doing the tour and everything was pretty much scheduled, all his time. I said to Dr. Fisher, the… Read More