Interview 12083 – Caption Index: 316
And I say, the vet, “Can we give him something?… Read More
And I say, the vet, “Can we give him something?… Read More
Just take the edge off. We don’t want to knock him down or tranquilize him so he can’t move.” He says, “Yes, we can do that.” Now, when he broke this barrier, that was my A plan. I didn’t have a B plan, which you should always have. You gotta… Read More
Take the edge off. Take the edge off. And we slowly, with the rebuilt wall, walked him and we got him into the crate and we closed the door this time and my mouth was so dry. I was, but now, we’re done. And then as they say, the rest… Read More
We got the giraffe in the plane up the wall or the top of the crate, had more room, and the escort took him to New Zealand. And as it turned out, got there okay, and fathered many, many babies. So there, you always have to have a B plan. Read More
So we have all these plan. There’s gonna be a police escort and so forth. But I knew that in cold weather, if the giraffe is on the truck, there’s a windshield factor. I don’t want this giraffe freezing on the way to the airport. So we worked it out… Read More
So we were all set to go and we had practice where, and again, where should each keeper be, What doors would be closed, when you’re there, what’ll happen?… Read More
So we, and this is a young giraffe. He’s under 12 feet. It was like 10 feet tall, which was great. And we get the giraffe and I’d made this move of adult giraffes, a number of times through the building and how to do it. So I knew what… Read More
The giraffe goes into the crate, but he turns around and they don’t close the door fast enough. Oh no. And he muscles his way out. Now, he wants to go back to the barn, to his stall and we’re trying hold the wall, and he kicks the wall. Even… Read More
And as it turns out, 12 feet is the, not air military. I’m talking about regular transport planes to get through the door. You have to be 12 feet. That’s the size of the door. So we knew that and we knew we had to build a special crate because… Read More
So we put this wonderful crate together. And then I get a call from the airlines. “Oh, we may have made a mistake on the dimensions of the skid that it’ll go on to be moved around in the freight hanger. You may have to do the crate an inch… Read More
That’s encouraging. So Mark, you’ve been involved with some pretty interesting transports in your career. Read More
Can you give me some elaboration on the, with the one about the giraffe moves to New Zealand?… Read More
I mean, that’s quite a distance. Well, I think, we’ve, again, international shipments and being able to do them successfully and it takes a lot of coordination and a lot of work. We had a call from zoo in Christchurch who was looking for a unrelated giraffe to their stock… Read More
And she called for help. And they were able, and luckily, she wasn’t seriously injured. She was injured, but not seriously where her life ended or she lost a limb or whatever. And this happened literally month or two after I had retired. And I have to tell you, I… Read More
And that’s what I learned from any of these emergencies of animal escapes is you’ve gotta have your ducks in order, so to speak. Read More
So what do you think about today?… Read More
Are zoos better prepared? (faint speaking) Yeah. I think they are much better prepared because they’re thinking about it. There’s more written about it. They have shooting teams, God forbid, you actually have to shoot in a certain situation, that’s happened, an animal. You better know what your people, better… Read More
And I don’t wanna hit the bear in the face. And I’m kinda looking, I’m waiting for my shot. I already knew I hit it once. So it was going down. I went, I didn’t know. And Dr. Fisher, maybe this is the third time he micromanaged, I don’t know. Read More
I said, “I’m waiting for a good shot.” He goes, “Shoot the bear. Shoot the bear anywhere.” I said, “Yes, sir.” Got him where I wanted, it wasn’t a big deal. And the bear went down and we put her on a tarp and we had 12 keepers bring her… Read More
And again, in those situation, you’re not saying to a keeper, “Listen, let’s get this.” And they go, “Well, why?” “It’s an emergency. Just do what I tell you to do. ’cause we gotta handle this emergency.” And some of the very worst emergencies, when I retired from the zoo,… Read More