It’s called Spokespeople for Wildlife through Education. And the letters are SPEAK, S-P-E-A-K. I’ve come down, evolve to the point where I feel that communication probably is a challenge of this century. So all those people, they’re like a thousand people in America from nature science centers, from zoological parks,… Read More
I was surprised the other day at the Bronx Zoo, I went out there to visit Bahamian and what’s his name the assistant to Bahamian?… Read More
He gets around adults as well, right?… Read More
And see, I’ve lectured to every kind of organization you would think of for 40 years. I now have people coming up to me and say, when they were young, I influenced them when I brought some animals that they’d never even heard or saw before into their home or… Read More
Are you still involved with ZAA?… Read More
Oh yeah. And… I’m very involved with ZAA, but the point I’m making. I at one time had an organization called AWE, which was Ambassadors for Wildlife through Education. The trouble is there was an animal rights group in California that had the same initials. And I didn’t quite feel… Read More
They do accredit. They do all the things they should do. Absolutely. They’re very, very strict about it. But for example, my group, which is a educational group, we belong. we’re part of ZAA. And let me speak very quickly about that. Read More
Okay?… Read More
I have so many people that come up to me and I know other people, I know a guy in Indianapolis that gives about 300 lectures a year to schools and to young people. And he also is…… Read More
But the AZA can delegate to the local zoological park what they can have and what they can have, right?… Read More
Well, they got rid of most of the animals at the Chehaw Park in order to meet the requirements of the AZA. Well, there are people in the ZAA who really don’t are more individualistic. I think what it is, and they don’t have the big budgets like they do… Read More
And AZA also is, but AZA has always been the organization that wants to get rid of the private breeders. They don’t wanna support them. So that’s one of the differences. And I think there not to say that AZA don’t have the right to control everything, but I think… Read More
They do accredit it?… Read More
How do these two places, these two organizations, how do they compliment one another?… Read More
Well, they compliment each other because there is a need for the big urban zoos. There’s no question. And it’s a little different story for the big urban zoos than it is for the, you know, there’s a guy that has a Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia called Mogensen. And… Read More
They had elephants, they had giraffes, they have a couple of rhinos right now, but the rhinos that they got through the AZA, they’re not breeders, they’re both two males. Read More
That’s one reason why I think the AZA has excluded from their jurisdiction, the educational component. A lot of these people that go out privately and take animals before the public are some of the most dedicated people you’d ever meet. And they’re also good breeders. They’re providing a lot… Read More
A lot of people are retiring or removing themselves from AZA. See, there shouldn’t really be any competition between the two. They should all work together. Read More
Is there room for both?… Read More
Absolutely, room for both. Absolutely. Because EAA, they’re managed by people as you probably well know in the zoo world, and you may know better than I do on this, but a lot of the directors in the zoological parks have changed too because of the board members and the… Read More