I think that people are endowed with certain abilities and rights and things that the animal world are not. And whether it’s a domestic creature, wild creature, we have to honestly look at that. And so I think that this is an ongoing struggle between the community and individuals to… Read More
How do you feel zoos are doing in answering the challenges from the anti-zoo groups?… Read More
“An animal should be left alone, leave them in the wild. “Don’t bring them into captivity.” There are various humane groups. One of the active groups we call PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, that’s kind of, I feel personally a strong fringe group. They would like to… Read More
That’s almost like when I started in this work, 50 or 60, 70 years ago, whatever it was. And I touched down the fact that in medical schools, there was the vivisection, anti-vivisection battle that even today is not totally laid to rest. Read More
I think that zoos are faced today with an element of society that say, “Why a zoo?… Read More
How do people feel about a zoo?… Read More
I think that these are areas that remain intriguing and a continuing challenge. Read More
What changes have you seen in the public’s perception of zoos?… Read More
I think that the so-called four core elements of running the zoo with recreation still being an important one. If we lose sight of the fact, I recall Hope McCormick used to say so often, “If you can’t have fun at the zoo, why have a zoo?” So that I… Read More
What role do you see zoos having regarding conservation, and education, and research?… Read More
What should be their lead, so to speak, in these areas?… Read More
I don’t know, a lot of the communities are gonna continue to swim up hill to maintain a so-called local zoo. And it’s possible that there will be changes economically that I can’t begin to understand or foresee, but I think change will happen. Read More
Is it possible that in our country and different parts of the world, there will be large umbrella groups, whether you call it a corporate entity or X that will be operating and running the zoological collections?… Read More
So how are the zoos gonna survive the coming economic times?… Read More
I’ve seen the growth of big business and big corporations where even in my own veterinary profession, an animal hospital today is an endangered species. A animal hospital today is part of big business. There are corporations now that run 10, 20, 50, 100 animal hospitals. Read More
I think to look into the future for 50 years today is difficult because of the incredible economic times we’ve just been through in the last two, three years. We were talking in our media today that universities are shutting back, and cutting down on staff and educational programs. Read More
And I think that the zoo will continue to grow in those areas. I think the zoo is just one part of the so-called international approach to how do we hope that in the next 50 years and 100 years, there will be wild creatures still living in their natural… Read More
You just hit on something because 50 years down the road, how do you see American zoos in terms of programs for the public, or the collections, or other activities?… Read More
The role of a zoo today has to remain diverse. I think a zoo today is definitely charged with the responsibility of its collection, that’s the heart of operating any zoo. And just as schools and orphanages and everything else have to care about people and children, it’s the animals… Read More
It’s one thing to have somebody that’s skilled in a certain niche of research or a certain niche of education or business, but you still have to understand your animals. And if you’re gonna work with them, I think that may be in some ways, the pendulum went from just… Read More