Columbus Zoo when I was there was totally different than it is today. It’s probably one of the models that we should use about municipal politically run zoo versus a zoological society operated private sector zoo. And then of course the Columbus Zoo has had a boon with Jack Hannah… Read More
So I guess that gives you what to answers your question about how did my wife like it there?… Read More
My children did well there in school. I still have one daughter that lives in the Rio Grande valley. My other daughter lives in Atlanta because she married a man from Atlanta after she was transferred there. She worked for Macy’s and they transferred her to Atlanta. She married a… Read More
Brownsville, Texas was to me an easy transition because I liked the Texas attitude and that’s pretty much, leave me alone, I’ll do my thing. You do your thing. And there wasn’t a lot of interference on things. At that time, I was married to my first wife for 18… Read More
So to me, moving from Ohio to Brownsville, Texas was not a problem at all. My wife after, we were divorced in 1979, immediately moved back to Ohio. Read More
How’d your wife feel?… Read More
I had a Foundation that was willing to provide financially for the major needs of the zoo. I had a very supportive board of directors and it was run by a zoological society, not by a city. So I didn’t have to put up with the city bureaucracy. And as… Read More
Was it difficult to move from the Midwest to Brownsville, Texas, which is certainly different from Midwest?… Read More
Well now, without mentioning names, does any memorable story come up to you?… Read More
It’s hard without mentioning names or without putting instances without people later on being able to figure out who it was. So, I would rather pass on that question. Okay. (chuckles) When you first went, you said you went to Brownsville as the associate director under Warren Thomas. Did you… Read More
And if they disagree, who takes precedence and things like this. And it usually came down to personalities. And in some instances you’d have a very experienced curator and a very inexperienced veterinarian or vice versa. And they each wanted, so to speak, insert their own influence on a situation. Read More
Who’s in charge when I go to treat an animal?… Read More
Is the curator in charge or is the veterinarian in charge?… Read More
Now you had mentioned that in joking that you didn’t have any conflict as a veterinarian with the mammal curator, but indeed there is conflict at times between veterinarians and curators or animal keepers having worked on the keeper end, so to speak as, when you started and being a… Read More
Most definitely the being a keeper first and then a veterinarian and curator before I became a director, made me sensitive to the entire spectrum of animal care. And I appreciated the work that keepers did and the fact that they would have to be the eyes and ears of… Read More
Yes, the days were long, but the days were always interesting. No two days were the same so that you never became bored. and it was something where I always looked forward to going to work. Read More
Were your days long?… Read More
Was it difficult to do both jobs or how did that work?… Read More
It worked very well because we had a very experienced keeper staff in Columbus. They knew their animals. They didn’t need a lot of hands-on. This is what you feed this animal. This is what you do here. The curatorial work at that time, mostly consisted of representing the mammals… Read More
Well, basically we weren’t, as veterinary students, given much training in exotic animal medicine. There was one elective course as a senior and I had these students for one week out of the year to come to the Columbus Zoo and to try and teach them. And basically the main… Read More