So, the bonding company had to take over getting this project done. Well, needless to say because of the oil boom, the people who had money, who made pledges didn’t have money anymore. So, they lost, I don’t know, 2 or $3 million in pledges. So, here we were, we… Read More
So, this great ape area was the first that you put together?… Read More
So, we eliminated two bad buildings with one new state of the art facility. And that’s what we started doing. We started going, okay, it takes care of that. Now, we gotta do something about cats. And then we did a new cat exhibit, state of the art cat exhibit. Read More
So, we eliminated that. So, we really needed to go take care of the things that needed to be taken care of first before we built anything really new. Read More
No, it was actually replacing those exhibits at that zoo that needed to be replaced. Either shut ’em down and move out that part of the collection or build something new and move the collection into it, take that space and build something else, which is exactly what we did. Read More
Was there one in your mind that you said, “Okay, my first one that I’m gonna build.” Well. Read More
Bateleur eagles?… Read More
And when you came in, what was a animal exhibit that you thought would be important to develop as you went forward?… Read More
In those days, I think a library was very important because a lot of what we had then wasn’t on the internet. There was no internet, basically. And as a result, hard copy books and reference material was there for use by the docents or by use by staff, curators… Read More
Skins, bones, skulls and all that. And that worked out very well. So, the question about the library, in today’s world with as much material as available on the internet, probably the need for a library may not be as great as it once was because I think you have… Read More
How important do you feel a library is to a zoological park?… Read More
At least the Education Department was beginning to be a player with the other zoo community, the other zoo related institutions. Where before that, there hadn’t been any exchange between the Oklahoma City Zoo educators and the rest of the world. So, then the Oklahoma City Zoo started participating in… Read More
What plans did you develop to try and make that mission statement happen?… Read More
Well, let’s say in terms of education, we built a new education center in time and with the library and with classrooms and the lecture hall. And so, we put together a location for this to take place. We also put in a staff of naturalists to teach these classes… Read More
Now, as I understand the mission of the Oklahoma City Zoo, was it called Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden or was it just?… Read More
At first, it was Oklahoma City Zoological Park. It was called the Oklahoma City Zoo. We put the word, “Park,” on it to give it a little more formality. Then in the mid 90’s, we went for botanical garden accreditation through AAM, the American Association of Museums. That process took… Read More
In the beginning it was, it was difficult to get things done simply because people hadn’t been given permission to succeed. They had been told to do something and if it didn’t work out quite right, then they were chastised for it. So, their enthusiasm was almost nonexistent. Their willingness… Read More
But that was throughout the organization. So, there was a you talk about culture change that really had to happen there badly. And over time, what had really amounted to the personalities had to change. I had to I guess, I had to eliminate some of those people from the… Read More
Was it difficult to get things done?… Read More
At the time the Education Department was very small, largely docents. And one of the problems at that institution, which had probably just been a result of prior administration and the cultures created within that is that none of these departments talked. The Education Department didn’t talk to Animal Department. Read More