They, they loved the zoo from the beginning. It, it, it was a, even when it was not a very good zoo or a decaying zoo, you know, the stroller moms were in there every morning. It was, it, it, there was no opposition to the zoo other than, well… Read More
How important was it to get the Houston community to embrace the zoo?… Read More
You know, the, the, you know, how season out, what the seasons are, you know, sometimes we’ll have specials rates for the villas, the, the, the giraffe suite. We’ll talk about animal king, animal kingdom. We’ll talk about long neck manner more later. But that’s where digital, I’ve really gotten… Read More
Did you have strategies for that?… Read More
Does it help the zoo If it’s used the right way?… Read More
It’s, it’s a tremendous tool because most of our marketing now, it’s much cheaper to market now because, you know, we, you, you, you put something on a a, a YouTube video. One of our, one of our hospitality people, she, we used to pay her to do all our… Read More
Does that help draw attention to wildlife?… Read More
As we look at things today, how does, how do you feel new technology can assist in promoting zoos?… Read More
There’s Twitter, there’s Facebook, there’s remote cameras. Read More
I, I had a good relationship with the press almost every place because I, I I, I don’t think I ever had a bad relationship unless they were looking for something bad. But we’d always invite them out and, and, and if we had a, if we had a, if… Read More
Did you have a good relationship with the, the press?… Read More
How did you nurture that?… Read More
Well, Lee Empty is a good friend of mine, so I knew him really well. I convinced him to apply. He, he wasn’t sure ’cause he was really happy in Minnesota, so I, you know, I didn’t have to give Lee advice. I I, I just said, Lee, you got… Read More
Did they ask?… Read More
But the initial conversation, and this was off, this was off the line because I wasn’t part of the selection committee, I was told not to be involved, but this is Lee, he’s my friend, you know, and he wanted to know from me and I worked with the, I… Read More
You want, you want them to really seem to be active or comfortable in their exhibits, in, in ways that you only know by watching, you know, watching your animals and not, I try to, you know, which they also, interacting with the public really helps I think the animal… Read More
When you retired as zoo director, did you give the new Zoo director any advice?… Read More
Oh, I would think so. The way things change nowadays, you know, if you, if you can’t design it, build it and open it within five years, you better not do it. First of all. The other thing is you got donors that, you know, they don’t wanna give you… Read More
Extremely important. I think the Houston Zoo would send more people to workshops and conferences than most zoos of its of its size. You have to be careful ’cause they all want to go to conferences no matter what. But I said if you’re gonna go to a conference, you… Read More
Is there a shelf life for a zoo master plan?… Read More