Interview 13445 – Caption Index: 172
What was the process and how did that unfold?… Read More
What was the process and how did that unfold?… Read More
How did it come about that the position of director opened up and how did you get into that position?… Read More
Was the title managing director or director?… Read More
Well, the title was director. Some people used executive director, some used director, some used managing director. I just used managing director because I felt that that was appropriate title because we had the zoological society and every one of the people on the zoological society was considered to be… Read More
He turned and chased Jerry. And we played volleyball with Ichabod for about five minutes until they could get the capture gun equipment and get out there with us, so. Good thing you didn’t slip. Yeah. (chuckles) Yeah. So that’s Ikabad. Now in 1974, you become the managing director of… Read More
I don’t have any capture equipment. I don’t have a big net. I don’t have anything. Well, there was a pile of construction material laying there. So I picked up about a five foot two by four and was gonna contest the bridge with Ikabad. And so Ikabad’s coming across… Read More
And he’s screaming and howling. No, get back, get back, go away. He’s killer. And so I slowly backed up and gave ground as he kept coming, but trying to slow him down. And he got out in the middle and he saw Jerry and he hated Jerry. And so… Read More
And about the time I pulled up, what am I gonna do?… Read More
He is the one that when he was only like a 40 pound animal, he came into Omaha and Lee Simmons at that time was the associate director of veterinarian in Omaha. And Ikabad came out of the crate. Lee tried to take him by the hand and Ikabad ended… Read More
And just so happened that I was the first one to get there after the radio call went out, that he was loose in the building. And I got there just in time for him to come across the bridge. Read More
We ended up with Spolski’s horses and that I don’t think anything other than the following, the endangered theme and we needed to have an equine. So we had gravy zebras and we had Alkis horses. We ended up then transitioning out of the gravy’s into regular grants zebras, the… Read More
And Susie was an animal that had been raised by an animal handler and used in the movies in California, Ralph Heer had her. And we obtained Susie and Ikabad the same time. And Susie was the absolutely nicest sweetest orang I’ve ever been around. To this day, we can… Read More
I, along with the curators, all had input. Warren was a very open person and he loved nothing more than getting us in for impromptu many staff meetings with the three major curators and myself. And we would talk about, wouldn’t it be fun if, if we could do this,… Read More
Should we get other types of animals or not?… Read More
And she is a full-time horse trainer, primarily with hunters, jumpers, dressage horses, but she got her start and she still works a lot with the teenage girls, which is where your market is for horses, and teaches them Western and showmanship and English and Western writing. And then they… Read More
Did you have input as associate director to say, should we get equine?… Read More
Yes, I had a personal interest in horses. I had horses when I was in college and helped at a polo club. Two of the veterinarians from Columbus area were active in the polo cycle. So I kept a horse at their barn and then I would help exercise their… Read More
Well, I sort of fell into being the CFO along with the associate director position because our first director, Warren Thomas, didn’t like to be bothered with numbers. And so he put me in charge of the numbers. And so it was up to me to make sure that we… Read More
Did you have other groups of animals you had a personal or have a personal interest in horses?… Read More
Yes, I made it a point to try and learn as much as I could about zoos in general and travel as much as I could and have visited zoos in pretty much across the US and also in Scotland, England some of the German zoos and Mexico. I’ve been… Read More