At the time, Bill Walker went off to work at the Los Angeles County Museum to take care and curate that collection. And again, as I said earlier, he was fascinated with the marine mammals and the strandings in Southern California. So it fit in his wheelhouse much better. And… Read More
Were you interacting with any other marine parks?… Read More
Are there any for you to really interact with?… Read More
There were, actually. There weren’t a lot. I mean, the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine was formed in 1972, IAAAM. And, actually, in ’72 and ’73, I went to my first meeting. and the ’72 meeting was actually in Redondo Beach. We were the host. And the ’73 meeting… Read More
I was gonna say, as you look back on what you’re talking about, is the beginnings of handling and moving cetaceans and other large marine mammals, you’re inventing new protocols, there’s trial and error?… Read More
The business, I wouldn’t even say it’s a business, the art was evolving and the people that ignored the evolution of that were the people that ended up leaving. And they weren’t good animal people, really. The people that evolved would listen to each other and talk to each other… Read More
And the more you kept yourself, people did the same, they wouldn’t tell you. So it became very intriguing to learn new things all the time, especially to colleagues all over the world. I’ve learned so much from so many other people, because I learned how to ask why in… Read More
So how did this happen, and who did you replace?… Read More
‘Cause you know, they poop terrible amounts, large amounts, even as they, though, went through their molt, and they would defecate less, obviously, ’cause they were eating less. And then when they started to eat again, we learned the cycle. This really proved to be helpful in a lot of… Read More
California condor is another example. So this is very important. Read More
At the time that you’re the associate curator, getting any other advice aside from the one gentleman you mentioned who mentored you, or are your bosses helping you along?… Read More
Well, everybody was helpful at Marineland, because it was such a small staff. We all helped each other. I mean, every Thursday morning when a fish truck would show up from the freezer plant down in San Pedro, we’d call all the areas and say, “Get your jackets and your… Read More
How do they stay cool?… Read More
Do we let them flip sand?… Read More
How do we keep the sand clean?… Read More
Was Bubbles a stranding or?… Read More
No, Bubbles was legally collected with a permit from a population that was studied. And the process in those days was you had to document the population size so that there was a sustainable take, meaning a small percentage. And then you had had to get a federal permit to… Read More
What other unique animals, marine mammals did the Marineland have?… Read More
In the very beginning, early on in the ’70s, they had large elephant seals, really large elephant seals. And, again, we found with the large elephant seals is that, when they molt, they stop eating. And it’s a very tough time in their life because they’re now on the beaches… Read More
Any stories?… Read More