I mean, we learned all the lessons from San Diego and Tampa, what they went through and what to prepare for. And I made a mental point of realizing what was going on. Every single one was read and looked at by our marketing department. I said I don’t need… Read More
It was cool! So that was my reaction on the thing. I think part of it was, you know, you can call it the brand of the zoo, but it was truly seen as the community zoo and the community was proud of what we’d done. Read More
Why are you emotional, because you survived this or because you gave them what you had the vision of?… Read More
Oh, I think it was just cool to see these elephants in. One, alive, two, our old female who had always been the matriarch when we just had two, but assume this and the public’s reaction. They were just so moved about wow, the exhibit, the elephants, a chance to,… Read More
And then to talk about your relationship with the zoo society and how did it change over the years?… Read More
We were fortunate, you know, I say in Kansas we eat meat. There was locally, we have a Kansas Humane Society. As you know, it’s not related to the American Humane Society and we had a working relationship with them on assisting and helping and still do. I made a… Read More
And over the years, she’d remind me of what I’d said over the years that I hadn’t fulfilled those promises yet on the elephant exhibit. And when the time came, she actually made a donation, even though she didn’t feel that elephants should be in zoos, but it was funny. Read More
When this went public, because at the last minute the government knew they were gonna get sued for issuing the permit, that they would have to do an environmental assessment. It had been declared that wasn’t needed because they’d done one earlier and this was the assessment of the elephants… Read More
That was a lot of fun, but that was our first experience in getting into heavy duty filtering systems and it was a whole new component for the zoo. Let me ask you about relationships, two specific. Read More
What was your relationship to animal rights groups and humane society groups over the years?… Read More
And that was a lot of fun. And again, getting creative, we built for 40 penguins and added extra filter systems in for it. And again, I learned Central Park Zoo, that indoor penguin exhibit they have is 50 feet long and felt real comfortable with it. The size, some… Read More
And how do you create a seashore looking feeling in the plains of Kansas?… Read More
We had some interesting challenges. And it will always be probably one of the most visited exhibits in the zoo because it’s right across from the main restaurant. It’s an easy walk. You know, it’s one of those easy outdoor walkthroughs and people like things that are black and white,… Read More
And this gorilla is up there making faces at Paula Downing and they’re getting all these accolades. And right after that, I had Mr. Slawson come up and said he wanted to do an exhibit at the zoo too. And then I had the Cessna Aircraft company come up and… Read More
He put a million dollar check on the corner of the table for me to look at and said you match this million dollars and I’ll give you another million. Now, normally that’d be fairly easy. This guy had also earned some major enemies in town because he’d gone bankrupt… Read More
And my instant reaction was penguins is in the master plans. It’s combined with the sea lion and an aquatic complex, aquatic complex. And it took me a while before I felt comfortable realizing that the penguins, if it was done right, could be the first phase of the aquatic… Read More
But on the design bill was getting that price down. ‘Cos at one point I shut down construction on it from August for four and a half months how to figure out how to cut some money out of it without affecting what I’d promised and what would be noticed… Read More
And we did it and there’s not one person that’s ever gone through there That’s noticed anything that, why didn’t you build this or why didn’t you do this?… Read More
I mean, you just had to be creative. And we already had the walls and the foundations for the building and the outer walls done. So we had the area, but it was something I sweated over a lot and I’d never do another one that way. And I never… Read More
And I said for us to look at as the best one in the country is Congo. We flew to the Congo. The staff there did a great job and I picked it. For one, it’s a great exhibit, but it also encompassed bongo and okapi and red river hogs… Read More