Interview 12083 – Caption Index: 202
What’s your daily routine like?… Read More
What’s your daily routine like?… Read More
Well, every day, I would make rounds, 99% of the time, not always, but pretty much so. I’d make rounds. And I would always say to the keepers, “The first thing a keeper should do in the morning, get your cup of coffee or your cup of tea, and then… Read More
And I went to the keepers and I said, “What about that maned wolf? What’s going on?… Read More
It’s dead. Let’s get.” “Oh, we hadn’t gone out there yet.” I said, “Wait, I, as the curator should not be the guy who’s making that discovery.” Exactly. “You as the animal keeper, it’s this, here’s the time. You should have already been out there. I mean, I’m late in… Read More
Of the collection?… Read More
I mean, we had a bird house, we had a reptile house, but the rest was mammals. Yeah. So my responsibility became multiplied. I was still looking at personnel, animal collections, the nursery, I mean, animal transport. I mean, I wasn’t doing in a vacuum, but it was part of,… Read More
Writing permits. Read More
How do you make the move from associate curator to curator?… Read More
Yeah. The position was zoologist then they changed the title to associate curator. It was the same essentially, but again. Responsibilities are different. Correct. But again, there’s a change in the upper echelon of the zoo. Saul Kitchener leaves to become director of the San Francisco Zoo. Dennis Merritt moves… Read More
That then my ex, my thing was not just a couple of these buildings, but it was all the mammals’ sections in the zoo, which was the major portion. Read More
Relationships are so important within the zoo and aquarium profession to getting things done and assisting and helping one another. And I had the opportunity to get a Smithsonian grant to travel and study at European zoos. So I went to Switzerland, England, John Aspinall’s place, Germany. Read More
How did you target these specific zoos?… Read More
They were world famous. I mean, Howletts because of the gorillas and we had gorillas. The Frankfurt Zoo, the Cologne Zoo, the Zurich Zoo, these were world famous institutions. And I figured I have the opportunity. So I put together a report, ton of information. But again, that exposure to… Read More
Absolutely. The better informed you are. Yeah. Yeah. Good for you and it’s a major initiative getting this Smithsonian grant and then taking this initiative and then actually producing a report from it. Yeah. I was very fortunate to be able to have the opportunity and I always tried to,… Read More
Happy ending, thankfully. Big, big deal. But again, it’s always making sure any enclosure has the right security because you never know who’s gonna come into the zoo and what you know might happen. Sure, sure. Yeah. Wow. Interesting. So you’ve talked about international involvement a few times here and… Read More
How this come about and why did you consider it so important to see collections both national and international?… Read More
Well, I think the lesson to me is that it’s so, you can’t be insular. You can’t just be at your place and think that what you’re doing is the last thing. The more breath and experience you have and seeing what the rest of of your profession is doing… Read More
Somebody approached, these kids approached, and all of a sudden, they’re, “Well, what’s going on here?… Read More
Maybe we got more than we could handle.” And they approached somebody, said, “You wanna buy these?” And they approached the police and they raided the house and grabbed our kids, so to speak. And they brought them back to the zoo. Read More
So happy ending?… Read More