Interview 11689 – Caption Index: 249
So what can a smaller, medium size municipal zoo or county zoo do today to be involved in a wildlife conservation nationally or internationally?… Read More
So what can a smaller, medium size municipal zoo or county zoo do today to be involved in a wildlife conservation nationally or internationally?… Read More
You know, there’s some medium size zoos, even small zoos out there that are doing some pretty incredible things. And you know, a small market. 3000 animals, 400 species. We had as big a collection as just about anybody but San Diego and Omaha. I mean, overall it was 17th… Read More
You know, the biggest thing that changed for me, and I think you’ve probably heard this from a lot of people, is that the amount of time that I spent out in the community dialoguing about development fundraising. Because even if you were at whatever phase you were in, you… Read More
And what can you do to help us make this succeed for the community?… Read More
You were always on. And I had to balance that with making sure that I had a good staff that was out there. I had to give up all the animal stuff I was doing. The last one was the bear TAG and the last animal, you know, I was… Read More
I had preconceived ideas and rough form and some of the staff polished ’em up even further. And the architects could then interpret all that and come up with wonderful things. Now, Wichita was not necessarily in the major market or a giant zoo. Read More
My passion. My board brought it up all the time. I lived and breathed the zoo. I was lucky I had a wife that liked it as much as I did and supported me. I got kidded at times ‘cos I just, you know, I believe in zoos to start… Read More
And I found that originally, I didn’t think I’d be attending these zoo meetings after I retired, but you know, part of it it’s because of the people we worked with. The greatest people in the world and you know, friends and colleagues and they’re passionate. It’s people like you… Read More
What skillset does a zoo director need today as compared to when you started?… Read More
Plus there’s the small parts, you know, how many people are ever gonna get a chance to go to Africa so see elephants?… Read More
But I have always felt that, and I’ve tried to have field conservation support for just about every major endangered species that we had at the zoo. I got over 50% that we were involved with some programs. This elephant exhibit is being used and all the money generated that’s… Read More
It doesn’t take long, it doesn’t take long. When you see an elephant push down a tree and strip off some bark and one branch and move on to the next one, you just want to cry ‘cos that tree is a hundred years old, but that’s elephants. Read More
What made you a good director?… Read More
That’s going to skyrocket the attendance like nothing ever was here before.” What did you mean?… Read More
One, it’s true what I said and it’s not taken out of context, but it is taken out of a longer thing that I said. And yeah, that’s the worst thing I ever said that I kicked myself for, so be it. But I am a believer that animals in… Read More
If I can’t hook somebody and get the story across with a live animal, how are people gonna care about what’s going on with elephants in the wild?… Read More
That was one of the requirements. And we paid for him to go over and spend some time. And he knew that Reillys personally from earlier and a management plan. The hardest thing to do is to kill something you love. That’s what they were faced with. Read More
Did the protest end after the elephants came?… Read More
One, we never had protest at our zoo. We had cheering crowds camped out at the parking lot for five hours before they showed up. It literally ceased after they arrived. We got a few more cards and stuff. We never had, and neither did Omaha or Dallas, have protestors… Read More
Now you had a quote that was kind of used against you. “It is not a question of if, but a question of when we will have young elephant calves born here. Read More