Interview 12083 – Caption Index: 181
1973, there was a major theft of snow leopards and a baby gorilla?… Read More
1973, there was a major theft of snow leopards and a baby gorilla?… Read More
Well, the first birth, Lester Fisher loved gorillas and we loved them. And Kisoro was the father and Mumbi was the mother, and this was the first birth and we had a medical committee. And we had an obstetrician on there, Dr. Mel Bailey. And he consulted with us ’cause… Read More
We all sat in front of the exhibit. We had people behind the scenes, Saul Kitchener, myself. I took pictures again to document the thing, took pictures of the very, I wish I’d had a video camera, but I didn’t, I would’ve gotten just wonderful things. But as it turns… Read More
This was a very first baby. So there was no learning from other gorillas and so forth. So it was her very first baby, but in the begin, worked out very well. Read More
How did she deal with this operation?… Read More
And we brought gorillas back from Howletts years later. So it was a very positive kind of thing, but it was one of our first big interna. We did others, but we, one of our first big international shipments and what my lesson there always was, you gotta get the… Read More
Can you talk about that?… Read More
Were you involved? Can you talk about this?… Read More
Yeah. I mean, the zoo did a lot of things that were international in scope. We were never afraid to bring or send animals internationally as part of a whole scope of things. And the zoo in England, Howletts Zoo Park, run by John Aspinall, needed a male gorilla. And… Read More
And he was escorted by one of our keepers to England and the interesting, and where he fathered many, many, many, many babies. Oh, well done. And it was very positive relationship between the two organizations. And we had to have a special box built. We probably overbuilt it, but… Read More
Live animal in the plane. And so they told the pilot, “Shut your engines down ’cause nothing’s happening.” And to retain heat, he had to keep his engines on for the gorilla. He said, “I can’t do that ’cause I have a live gorilla on this flight and I’m not… Read More
And we brought him to Indian Boundary Zoo, which I’ll go into that in a second to live his life. Now, the Park District, there was one zoo in Chicago, Lincoln Park Zoo. Then there was Brookfield Zoo. That was it. But the Park District at one time was different… Read More
It’s on the north side of the city of Chicago and there was this little zoo and they had grizzly bears. I mean, it’s a little place. We had spectacle bears up there, born up there. We had mountain lions at various times. So we brought this, it was Park… Read More
Cool story. Geez. So something else that I found interesting. In 73, the zoo was involved with a major conservation about a gorilla, Kisoro, to England. Read More
So we called the fire department and they came and they said, “Well, we’ll loan you our snorkel, but if there’s a fire, we have to leave.” And this is middle of the night. It’s like at midnight. So they get the snorkel in position and the cat’s just frozen. Read More
Now, ideally when you noose an animal, you don’t just want it, again, trick of the trade. I guess a lot of stuff is common sense. You don’t want around the neck, you want it around the neck and the shoulder so you’re not strangling the animals. Sure. That makes… Read More
So, and then there were ropes, (clears throat) that you could automatically let them loose. I mean, we did all that. So Eddie gets up there, he grabs it and he could only get around the cat’s neck. And as he pulls, now, remember it’s midnight, we’ve got all this… Read More
It was so surreal and they’re all looking. It’s just like, one guy in the middle and all these guys. And all of a sudden, the cat starts to go, (imitates coughing) and he starts to breathe. And to a person, to a man, all these firemen, ’cause they’re watching… Read More
And we’d like to, ‘what’s going on?’ And we saw a large cat, looks like a bobcat or a lynx or something.” I went, “Well, what’s the chances on LaSalle Street?… Read More
Not much.” But we went out there and indeed, I went with the vet and the curator of reptiles, Eddie Almandarz, and indeed, who was a mentor of mine, indeed, we looked up in this big old oak tree and there was a bobcat. Wow. Read More