Interview 14294 – Caption Index: 281
What were the major obstacles?… Read More
What were the major obstacles?… Read More
When we moved the animals from the old Crandon Park Zoo to the new zoo. We felt that giraffes were gonna be the most difficult animals to move. ‘Cause we’re gonna have to take down traffic lights and take down some wires, and somehow get them under the… I think… Read More
It must have been a massive kind of thing. Read More
How were you preparing for it?… Read More
I have no idea if Bob Yokel was surprised to be named director. I really don’t know. But also after I retired, he remained director for a year or two after that. And then the parks department director retired, they put a new director in, and the first thing he… Read More
Can you talk a little about the amount of animals you had to move?… Read More
Was Bob surprised to be named director?… Read More
It’s not gonna accomplish anything. And I wanted to stay in Miami ’cause I wanted to see this new zoo built and developed the way it should be. And I think by and large, it has been developed that way. Read More
How were you able to work with the new guy in this new position?… Read More
You obviously accepted it. When I found out when the (indistinct) director told me about my new role, the first thing I did was I immediately called all members of my family to tell them what happened, and all my friends so that they wouldn’t be surprised if they read… Read More
I was been paid in my new position by the county. It was the county. And I didn’t lose any pay. It was just a lateral transfer, I guess you’d say. But yeah, it was a different assignment. If I can ask the question, how did you handle this abrupt… Read More
I guess, an (indistinct) employee and were- Well, after they brought in their new political appointee as a director, I was assigned to be the educational curator and worked with the zoological society and educational programs. But also I filled in for our veterinarian, which we went through several of… Read More
In your new role were you being as education person were you paid by the zoo society or were we being paid again by the city?… Read More
And it just worked beautifully for us because we could get on top of the rock work, or just climb up one of the trees out on the exhibit. And no problem. You could actually jump on the animal if you had enough courage, I guess. But it was easier… Read More
So it was a beautiful natural moat system. And there was no need for concrete retaining walls or anything like that. And then the night house areas or the holding pen areas, we disguised behind artificial rock work. We made out a gunite wire, reinforcing gunite, and it worked beautifully. Read More
Oh boy, we see as far as how long it takes to build the zoo. We started building that zoo in the late 1970s. We opened it in 1980 fall of 1980. I would guess we had been working there at least three years, maybe four years. And what we… Read More
And then the African area after that. But it took quite a while. But it wouldn’t have taken… It didn’t take us as long as it would’ve up in the cold climate, like up in Chicago. Because all we did was we dug the moats right out of the limestone… Read More
Now your association with the Metro Zoo, how long approximately does it take to build a brand new zoo?… Read More
No. Read More
And I said, you’ve had a lot of personnel go through here. And I said the people that work with animals are different than concession people. You just can’t treat them the same way. They have kind of an empathy towards animals and they get involved with the animals and… Read More