Well, the, you know, as a, as a veterinarian, it, it’s a, it’s a bit of, it’s, it’s determined by what your specialty is. If you are a small animal practitioner, you could look at practices anywhere in the country. A large animal food, animal veterinarian would be, you know,… Read More
Lincoln Park was my preference because with most of my family in St. Louis, there was a relatively much shorter commute to go home for visits. So I was, I was interested in Lincoln Park and I got that position At the time when you went to Lincoln Park, who… Read More
Yes. And how do you, how do you get the job at the Lincoln Park Zoo?… Read More
I, I think it, it’s a little bit, it’s a little bit like thinking about the, the Super Bowl at the beginning of each football game in the season. You’re, you’re engaged in what you’re doing now and learning everything you can and getting through your residency more than setting… Read More
Yes, yes. The residency at the time, the residency was a two year program and it was the first one in the country that was, that was associated with a university, but actually located at a zoo. So I, I think I was about the 11th person to complete a… Read More
So the residency is different than the internship?… Read More
Louis Zoo, and I started that in 1979. Read More
So during this residency and, and also the internship, were you thinking about how you would approach zoo medicine?… Read More
Well, there were, at the time there were two internships in zoo animal medicine, one at San Diego and one at National Zoo. And so I applied for both of those along with 60 or 70 other folks from across the country. And, and I actually was first alternate at… Read More
And now that I hadn’t done anything to advance my zoo career, I didn’t even make the final cut on either of those. So recognized that I needed to do something a little more academically rigorous to increase my chances in applying for other zoo positions. So around that time… Read More
So after you graduate from veterinary school, do you start a men an internship?… Read More
Well, I, I, I spent time with, with Dr. Beaver at the hospital again, around the time that I, that I started. So by the time, by the time I was full-time in the children’s zoo, Dr. Beaver was established as the full-time vet at the zoo. And the, the… Read More
Did you have any mentors at this time?… Read More
I love it. That was definitely, you know, when you’re, when you’re looking to get into vet school, you want a backup plan because not everybody that applies gets in. And so, so yeah, along those, you know, in those, my first couple of years of college, you know, that… Read More
And so when I got into vet school and had my first introduction to house cats, it was like, oh yeah, it’s just like a baby leopard. Yeah, I, I, I get that behavior that’s just like a, just like a baby tiger. So I, my exposure was kind of… Read More
Or was this something you thought could be the rest of my life?… Read More
And at the time were you thinking about other opportunities in the zoo world as you were doing this keeper job?… Read More
Starting out, it was essentially animal husbandry, cleaning cages we had, and at, at the time, we, we knew more about, we knew less about contracepting big cats than, than we did about, you know, having them in a situation where, where you could get breeding. And so a lot… Read More
What was your responsibilities as an animal keeper? Starting out?… Read More
Yes. When about what year did you become an animal keeper?… Read More