We had very little ability to talk with them, there were too many people and we weren’t commonly aware of the fact that they were coming. So it was not the kind of situation that one could develop as a conservation effort, specifically. But on the other hand, it reminded… Read More
What was the reaction from the politicians and celebrities when the panda came to New York, did you all of a sudden have more friends?… Read More
A great many people came to see the panda and that included all sorts of friends and politicians and that was good. Read More
Are we sure it’s helping the panda?… Read More
In any case, pandas came to the Bronx Zoo, mainly through the efforts of Ed Kotch, the mayor. And when he went to China, he felt he would be helping the zoo and helping the panda by arranging a loan and he did. And in the event, he was not… Read More
If they really care about their pandas, one would think they do, they are doing a lot of wonderful work with them, why not send out pandas for exhibits in a different way?… Read More
And where a zoo does pay, are we really sure how the money is being used?… Read More
Well, necessary?… Read More
Does anybody think China needs that kind of money even a few years ago?… Read More
Why not?… Read More
The Rent a Panda Program, which China had introduced where upon it was sending out zoos, sending out pandas to zoos for high prices that seem to me to commercialize the wellbeing, the presentation, the whole atmosphere of the giant Panda effort and its conservation in a way that was… Read More
I have to make a confession. I was not very keen about having to bring giant pandas a few years ago to the Bronx Zoo. Read More
And people crowded all around it with their noses on the glass. Just as much as they were at the wonderful hippo exhibits at San Diego and St. Louis and many other places nowadays to see the hippos underwater, where they spend so much of their life and where they’re… Read More
How did the acquisition of giant pandas affect the zoo?… Read More
Because in nature lions sleep or rest as much as 21 hours a day, a fact that few of your visitors understand. And after all, when they see them on television, they’re obviously running and catching and eating something or trying to hurt each other, or what have you. But… Read More
I don’t know whether that’s still going there, but it was built into the building and it may be, this has been done in a number of zoos, sometimes very effectively with a sound of thunder and even lightning. Showing a little bit of nature’s activity, reminding people that the… Read More
I’d like them to see you.” And I suppose that’s true. Many of the animals are quite interested in the visitors. On the other hand, when you see as many visitors as some animals do, in some exhibits, it is very much like a waterfall and one becomes less interested,… Read More
Why?… Read More
In a good zoo exhibit, that’s no problem. The visitor maintains his or her own attention. In some zoo exhibits, the animal maintains the visitor’s attention. I’ve been interested to see gorillas, essentially walk over when they feel visitors aren’t looking and give them the eye and gesture as though… Read More
And I’ve felt sometimes in taking visitors through the Congo Gorilla Exhibit, in fact, I even found myself saying this a week or two ago, “Won’t you come to our gorilla exhibit?… Read More