And that meant making a crate for it there, which they had facilities to do that because they were shipping animals from the orphanage. And I proceeded to have a crate made, and got to the airport with the crate and an animal. And the guy said, “But you can’t… Read More
And I finally went to the head of the airport and said, “I have an emergency situation.” He said, “What’s that?” And I said, “I’ve got to go get a baby elephant.” And of course, he thought I was a little wacko. And I finally convinced him of what I… Read More
And for some reason, this taxi driver got on that turnoff, and I looked out the window and thought, “Oh my golly, I’m heading down to Indiana.” Well, happily there was a booth somewhere, a collection booth not too far down some miles, and we were able to get off… Read More
You talked about sending animals to other zoos and receiving them. Can you tell us the story about the Sri Lankan elephant, Bozie, that came to Lincoln Parks Zoo, and how you were able to- Bozie is kind of an interesting fun story. First of all, we heard, we meaning… Read More
And Art said, “I’ll underwrite the purchase of the animal.” And we started a dialogue between the director of the zoo there in Sri Lanka, Lindy Alice, and also the governmental agencies. And finally, after what seemed like an interminable time, there was a small window of opportunity to go… Read More
Well, fortunately the telephone, which today is still a useful tool, was always there. And we would call each other up if we had issues or problems. And once a year at the National Veterinary Conventions, the American Veterinary Medical Association, AVMA would have their meetings. And invariably, those of… Read More
Were you able to communicate with these other zoo veterinarians on a regular basis?… Read More
A woman named Patricia, who?… Read More
I can’t think of her last name at the, O’Connor, Patsy O’Connor was the first woman zoo veterinarian at the Staten Island Zoo full-time. And in Cleveland, a guy named Dr. Leonard Goss, who was a pathologist as well as a veterinarian. His father was head of the Department of… Read More
Well, and again, clarify, when you say the tranquilizers were good in treating the animals, meaning the primarily to get access to the animal. And the treatment part then became what would normally be done with any other medical procedure. Happily for the zoo vets, a veterinarian by the name… Read More
And I think in those earliest years, there may be where at most three or four full-time in the U.S. A guy named Dr. Charles Schroeder out in California was one of the early both veterinarians, and he ended up director of the San Diego Zoo. Read More
Were there any other significant changes in zoo medicine, which assisted the zoo veterinarian in doing the job?… Read More
Another drug was succinylcholine, which is a paralytic drug, and it’s even used today in human and animal medicine to stop respiration ’cause it paralyzes the muscles of the chest. And a certain dosage would be used by the anesthesiologist along with other drugs. But it was not unusual to,… Read More
One of the interesting dangers were that, in working with these early drugs was the fact that we didn’t really appreciate the potential danger or toxicity to the person preparing the drug. And it’s possible if somebody had a cut on their hand and they were handling one of these… Read More
Now, how much of that drug do you put in to safely work with the animal?… Read More
Were you one of the first veterinarians to use a tranquilizer gun?… Read More
Yes, we received as some of the earliest drugs and some of the early ones were crude compared to the later ones. Nicotine salicylates was one of the early ones that we were using, sort of like concentrated tobacco, I guess. And the problems were that we didn’t know dosages. Read More
And shoot a drug into the muscle of the animal and get it to go down. That started a whole bevy of drugs, and rifles, and pistols, and aluminum dart guns, and you name it, with which we were able to truly, almost eliminate the stress of handling with newer… Read More
And Eric thought, “What’s the big deal?… Read More
“If it’s under 20 minutes or two hours, “it’s under the anesthetic not to worry.” So he didn’t quite have the same concern that I did about stress. I think that that kinda gives you an overview in response to your query about the animal handling. There’s no question that… Read More