Lee Crandall was an extraordinary fountain of information. And although the zoo was in poor condition, that could not be laid at their door and it took a while to change and we’re still changing it. The people who have succeeded me are still working to change it and make… Read More
Marvelously?… Read More
That the area around the zoo was not in good condition. The Bronx had become one of the poorest areas of that size in all the United States. So I saw that there were a great many challenges beyond the immediate needs of the zoo. The bird collection in St. Read More
How were you treated by the older colleagues to this young man who was coming in through the door?… Read More
And I presume it was the Bronx Zoo that you were walking through the doors. Read More
What was your first impression?… Read More
Well, my first impression was a little rough. I drove 16 hours from St. Louis to New York. The weather was miserable. I came over the George Washington Bridge, which had only one level at that time, and the first thing I managed to do was to get myself welcomed… Read More
Well, I became interested in ornithology I suppose, because birds are so remarkably diverse, so active, and my original interest in reptiles is still very strong but if you’re a herpetologist and I suppose I was better qualified as a herpetologist than anything else when I became interested in ornithology,… Read More
You walk in the front door, what were your impressions of this new place?… Read More
When I decided I wanted to go to New York because of people like Lee Crandall and Leonard Goss, the veterinarian there, and especially William Beebe, I would do virtually anything to get there. A mammal position became available, so I applied for it. And fortunately, or perhaps fortunately I… Read More
What kind of pushed you so to speak toward ornithology?… Read More
And is it true that your first looked at a position at the department of mammalogy before you went to ornithology?… Read More
So you were about– You found Cheyenne Mountain to be a different zoo than St. Louis?… Read More
Very different Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is very different from St. Louis and a very interesting zoo, it’s built on the side of Cheyenne Mountain and it’s a beautiful environment. And they had certain opportunities there that I suppose other zoos wouldn’t have, and they had various limitations because of the… Read More
You talked about New York Zoo, but did you have any relationship with the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo?… Read More
When I was at the St. Louis Zoo, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs asked me to help them with some of the buildings that were under construction there. And that came about because the St Louis Zoo architect was doing those buildings. And I was invited by the… Read More
Did he involve you in the political end of anything or were you exposed to that, that you started to think about this interaction?… Read More
George Vierheller was a man of his times. He would never have thought of himself as a conservationist or have seen the need for it. He did understand very well, the need for the public’s representatives, the politicians to be interested in the zoo. And he worked at that assiduously. Read More
That was largely the work of Roy Disney rather than Walt Disney. So, anyone who did not notice that wildlife was disappearing, did not notice the need for conservation, where I was, would have had to have been deaf and blind. Read More
Did George Vierheller have this feeling or was he just more of a person who had a deal?… Read More