No, they created the title based upon the new corporate structure. We all became officers because it was a public company now. And I thought, “Well, sure, call me what you want. I was a fish boy one day, so I don’t care. It doesn’t make any difference, I don’t… Read More
I just got a job to do.” And, again, more responsibilities, or pretty much more of the same?… Read More
So Jim talked to one of the pilots on one of our flights one day and said, “Well, can we change the internal cabin pressure?” And he goes, “Sure.” He says, “The temperature may get a little colder.” And I said, “Well, getting colder is not gonna hurt anybody. We’ll… Read More
Again, did you raise your hand or was us ’cause you were around and doing a good job?… Read More
Well, I think my actions were being rewarded, again, positive reinforcement. I did a good job, they said, “Keep doing a good job. Here you go.” It was a new title. Read More
Did the moving of killer whales or dolphins and so forth evolve into even a smoother type of thing?… Read More
It seems, to me, complicated to move it rather than an elephant, but that’s what I know. Read More
Was it getting better as you were understanding things more or did techniques essentially stay the same?… Read More
No, I think it all evolved, equipment evolved. Dr. Jim McBain, who I worked with for many, many years, was our chief veterinarian. And he always realized that some of the respiration rates on some of the cetaceans seemed to be a little bit higher when we were flying. And… Read More
I don’t think they were paying attention to the public and the millennials that were coming of age. And the people that were coming to zoos and aquariums love zoos and aquarium. But there were some people that were hearing messages and suddenly saying, “Well, we maybe we don’t wanna… Read More
And it was silent. but it was getting more vocal. And it was a small percentage, but it was effecting people, especially today with the social media blogs and the way they can do it. So I saw changes in our company in terms of our ability to… I always… Read More
And how we would do that?… Read More
And inspire people to say, “I wanna help flamingos in the wild. I wanna help penguins in the wild. How do we connect the dots to a guest who sees a penguin and says, “I wanna help. How do we do that?” That’s the biggest challenge ever. Part of this… Read More
What kind of evolution did you see occurring?… Read More
I saw an evolution in a lot of different areas. I saw an evolution in terms of our ability to do more conservation and more research and more education. I saw the ability of the animal activist extremists to start creating a picture of doom and gloom, and we do… Read More
We’re part of public education. We’re part of conservation.” And that movement was getting stronger and stronger, you know, because it was started with the farm animals and animals in entertainment and animals in Hollywood. And it was drifting towards zoos and aquariums, especially on dolphins and whales. And a… Read More
Are you really traveling a lot during this time as directors of zoological operations?… Read More
I’m traveling all the time as zoological director, to all of the parks. We have meetings. We have a yearly meeting where all our zoo professionals come together, and we have meetings with our educators and a meeting with our veterinarians and I travel around the world to different facilities. Read More
What type of evolution did the parks take?… Read More
‘Cause you started a while back, and now it’s 2008 and you’re director of zoo operations. Read More