Interview 11040 – Caption Index: 25

What was it like?… Read More

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Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I love terrestrial animals too. And, you know, later in my years, obviously, I was in charge of the collection of Busch Gardens also, but it was all about marine animals, because that’s what Marineland of the Pacific was. Let’s talk about your beginnings then. Read More

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So you’re hired as a keeper to begin with, or less than a keeper in the Marineworld?… Read More

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Or Marineland. It’s now closed and gone. Actually, no, I don’t think the designation was a keeper. I think I was basically a fish house guy, is what they called it. And so every day you go in and bucket thousands of pounds of fish and put ice on it… Read More

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We didn’t air thaw. And in fact, in those days, it was ironic in a way as you look at the husbandry practices that evolved and developed, I took the fish from this cold storage point to the different areas in the park and just stacked it in shelves. And… Read More

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And then I learned how to train animals. And then I started to do a lot of different things with some of the stranded animals, because in Southern California, you have a lot of sea lions and elephant seals that come up on the beach sick. And all they would… Read More

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Well, I’m certainly in their hall of fame for rugby, and, sure, a lot of people send me notes all the time about the work I’ve done all the last 45 years. Yeah, but it’s a great school. Read More

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So do you believe that your initial interest in marine mammals, as opposed to terrestrial animals, came from this first unique encounter?… Read More

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It was exactly at that point. I had gone to school. I wanted to be a dentist and I was in pre-medicine and pre-dentistry. And I had a very low lottery number my senior year of college and I was gonna get drafted. And I’d already gone for my physical. Read More

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So I didn’t have to go to Vietnam. Read More

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But I had a BS in biology and I’m thinking, “What am I gonna do?… Read More

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What kind of a career do I wanna?” So I thought, “Well, I’ll go back to grad school.” And then I thought, “Ah, that’s not a good idea. I’ve got plenty of student loans and I’m up to here with the debt.” So I stumbled into this job that I… Read More

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Did you bring stuff home?… Read More

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We used to, we used to fish a lot and bring starfish and things like that. I mean, the realization of dead starfish hanging on nets in your patio sort of hit me as I got older and realized that was really a dumb thing to do. Read More

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So when did you realize you wanted to work with animals?… Read More

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Was it at that exact point when someone offers you a job?… Read More

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I was 22 years old at the time. And you had never been to a zoo or aquarium before that. Never had. Read More

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And the only animals you had were?… Read More

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A dog and a cat and the stuff I saw in the ocean. Read More

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My father was a Los Angeles City fireman, and also a cement contractor, because, as you know, fireman only worked every fourth day or every third day or something like that. And he had to have other income to support the family and keep my mother from going to work. Read More