Yes, yes. Generally US facilities that I’m aware of are Sister Aquariums in Europe and probably Japan most commonly. A lot of interest on, in both geographic areas in fishes and zoos and aquariums and that type of thing. And then, you know, when you say like a sister facility,… Read More
This poor guy doesn’t know this environment and is gonna be confused and most likely picked off by a predator probably in a day or two. So the born, born free philosophy sounds good, was great in the movie, but it doesn’t really work as putting animals back in the… Read More
And does, do aquariums have sister aquarium relationships?… Read More
But the idea of them approaching people in boats is not a good thing. Witness down in Florida, Dr. Randy Wells’ work in Sarasota Bay, how many times they find animals dead that have ingested things, that fishing hooks, things that are injurious to their health. The, the, I’m way… Read More
Is it for the purpose of putting them back in the wild or do you want ’em for your collection?… Read More
Matter of fact, we had a program at Shedd ko called Shedd the Straw. They had a number, I don’t know where this came from, but they said there’s upwards of 500 million plastic straws used every single day in the United States. Think about it, you get a cocktail… Read More
I would say it’s more the latter. There’s very few areas where you’re likely to put an animal back into the wild and it’s gonna do well because it’s never experienced that environment. In the news recently, there was a beluga whale that showed up in Norway on its own. Read More
Part of the, the conservation work that I favor on any scale is kind of the preservation of habitat. You know, and I’m sure this happens in all over the country, but invasive species is a big deal, certainly with aquatic animals, but also with plants. But you know, there… Read More
You talked about conservation, but what kind of conservation programs do you believe an aquaquarium should be involved with today that is involving what the wildlife conservation nationally or internationally?… Read More
Right before I went there, I saw a father come in with a young child and this kid started screaming when I was under the dryer and I pulled back ’cause I thought, oh my gosh. And I’m like, apologizing, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. And he says, ah, no… Read More
And you know, we’ve even talked about braille interpretation of exhibits. I’m like, yeah, but they can’t see the exhibits. Yeah, but there’s somebody with them that can describe the animals and they can read a little bit about it. And I’m like, oh, never thought about that. Or something… Read More
How do you clean it? And there were all kinds of challenges that way. It’s, you know, I think, I know the open-minded nature of the job is what yields success. It’s like if you are receptive to new ideas and you know, you’re not only supporting someone’s interest, hopefully,… Read More
It’s like, okay, well how do you get in there to feed them if it’s a closed chamber type of thing, how do you feed them?… Read More
And there were attempts at this with small aquariums that were pressurized. Read More
Okay, how are you going to maintain the heavy pressure that these guys would experience in the wild?… Read More
And sometimes it’s like, yeah, but how are you gonna achieve that in this small space?… Read More
You know, come back to me, you know, if we can make it happen, let’s, let’s go toward that. Some people would love to have deep sea fishes. Read More
Ah, gosh, probably, probably keeping an open mind, which I guess pertains to just about any job I would think. But it’s being receptive to new things. Female aquas. I mean, I remember when the first female aquas came to the Shedd and there was a lot of, oh yeah,… Read More
But I would say by and large the history is of nominal interest to most aquarists unfortunately. But it is. Read More
What was, what was the most important piece of advice you received that has stayed with you throughout your career?… Read More