‘Cos I was fascinated by necropsies and I learned years later, my dad used to cringe ‘cos he’s trying to save animals and I want to know what died so I can see what’s cut up that weekend. But afterwards, the last thing we’d do, Dr. Mann lived in an… Read More
I didn’t realize the time, but this was the impious for me doing the travel and seeing what I saw. I’ve never taken any paid consulting, but I’ve done a lot of consulting as far as giving my opinions and impressions and telling them hey, by the way, you need… Read More
But there’s no question it’s a thing. And you know, more and more people, a lot of people have gotten out of elephants or will temporarily, but there’s gonna be a lot of empty elephant exhibits the next few years before it starts going the other way. You mentioned your… Read More
Did you ever have the opportunity to meet Dr. Mann?… Read More
They did. They actually, early on in the reptile thing, they got some work with Cuban crocodiles and actually had Cuban crocodiles at the zoo. Man, they’re nasty ones. They’ve got a personality and watching them and so forth. And you know, I don’t know where that went or what… Read More
Did your father ever speak about the good or bad about being forced or asked to take political gifts?… Read More
No, no. It was just one of those things he just knew was part of it. He was a Goodwill ambassador. I mean, he took over animals to Dugal once and came back with Algerian Slenderhorn Gazelles or no, Algerian Dorcas Gazelles, and swans to Sukarno for Komodo Dragons, a… Read More
Can you say who John Perry was, and I think it was under your father, the Wild Animal Propagation Trust that worked on the rangs?… Read More
John Perry, I’m not too sure of his background. He just died recently, but he was involved with the friends of the National Zoo and then came on as the assistant director, one of the assistant directors, but his primary responsibility originally was to search and find a place that… Read More
I wasn’t there at the meeting, but him talking to me afterwards what had happened. But it was an early precursor to what led into collectively managed animal programs. It was all on mutual consent that we won’t bring anymore orangutans in and et cetera, et cetera. And I think… Read More
Did your father or the National Zoo, when he was director, have a relationship with Cuba?… Read More
But you mentioned the research, wasn’t he instrumental in the establishment of research and bringing Dr. John Eisenberg?… Read More
That was one of the first things that he did and had a relationship that started out with University of Maryland with Dr. Eisenberg, you know, they fielded students all over the place. Ann Baker actually was also in Sri Lanka at that time. He had a flock of students. Read More
You mentioned John Perry. Read More
He wanted to have it a place to help build up sustainable herds. And he saw diminishing numbers of certain species and that obviously made sense for more room and space. I mean, you saw it with, you know… In his case it was things like Bactrian Camels and Père… Read More
I mean, it is night and day what has transpired there over what it’s being used for. I mean, they bring in people from all over the world to learn everything from radio telemetry to some very sophisticated wildlife conservation things. Wemmer did a great job getting things started out… Read More
What was his vision for Front Royal?… Read More
He knew he was gonna have to be open to the public at some point in time. Read More
But what did he want it to be?… Read More
And as it was, it was just him and one officer and they flew in and basically did everything that Nixon had done a month earlier, except he did get some time at the veterinary college there and everything, but it was quite the experience for him. He looked forward… Read More