Interview 13445 – Caption Index: 192
I thought it would be good for her to be exposed to others. and she had gone, even when Dr. Thomas was the director. Read More
I thought it would be good for her to be exposed to others. and she had gone, even when Dr. Thomas was the director. Read More
Was it her idea to go to the zoo association meetings?… Read More
at things?… Read More
And she also would go to the AZA meeting every year. She got to know zoo people through meeting Dr. Seal that I mentioned earlier, and Lee Simmons from Omaha, they ask her if she would put up the first challenge grant to establish the zoo computer program, which she… Read More
And now that your director you’ve inherited Gladys Porter, so to speak. That was a pleasant inheritance. Was she involved in, you’ve mentioned certain animals she liked and so forth. Was she still then day to day or coming and looking. Read More
When you did become director of the zoo, did they all embrace you or was there some issues with the staff?… Read More
I don’t think there were so many issues other than who was gonna be the associate director. And I had two different staff persons that both wanted that position. One was a dynamic hepatologist and one was a more generalized person who had a mammals background who, when he came… Read More
Well that wasn’t unique to our zoo. Most zoos had some form of an Adopt an Animal program. The one that we had came about as a part of an annual fundraiser, and we had a couple of dynamic board members, one in particular was a banker who was one… Read More
So, and so, this company or that person is assisting with personal input and financial support of the zoo, maybe we should also. You mentioned when you were offered the position that you had kind of consulted with the staff and they said you might be a better choice than… Read More
Could you give us some details and how successful was it?… Read More
Well, I had to do both jobs till we got a new veterinarian and I’ve had a series of veterinarians that worked for us. Stewart Porter was one of the first ones, Jim Oster Hisis, who then went on to San Diego wild animal park, where he still is, was… Read More
She was good veterinarian. So then my latest hire before I left, I retired in 2007, at the end of 19, or yeah, at the end of 2006, I hired Tom Derma who had about five years experience working in Africa at Old Joji wild animal park in Kenya. And… Read More
Or were you having to do again both jobs?… Read More
In the beginning, did you automatically first hire a full-time veterinarian?… Read More
Oh yeah. Read More
Or did they do a search or. They didn’t do a search. They already had their mind made up, apparently. And two attorneys for the Sams Foundation came to me the next day and they gave me an ultimatum that I could either be the next director, or I could… Read More
So as director, you had to give up being a veterinarian. Right. Right. Read More
So now he leaves, how do they approach you?… Read More
I mentioned earlier, Dr. Thomas was very direct and sometimes didn’t keep his board of directors and the Sam’s Foundation fully informed on what he wanted to do or what he was going to do. And this became increasingly evident over the years that there was a void in their… Read More
You had someone who was already there who was fairly dynamic. Read More