Interview 8364 – Caption Index: 115
Were you at the time working with rare mammals at the zoo?… Read More
Were you at the time working with rare mammals at the zoo?… Read More
Did you have the lesser kudu or hyenas or things that were unusual at the zoo than the mammals area that Earl had brought in, or you were trying to move forward?… Read More
We didn’t have much in the way of antelopes. We didn’t have the facility for them. We had elk and deer and things of that sort, but not the antelopes, certainly not African antelopes and not many people did at that time. Some of the majors zoos of course, Chicago… Read More
Don Davis was, he worked at the Columbus Zoo until he, after military service, he came back as I did. And he applied and got the position of the zoo director for Evansville, Indiana, and worked there for a number of years, doing the same thing I was doing, planning… Read More
Now, when you started, I mean, when you were director, a superintendent of the zoo, did you have to move a lot of surplus animals out, or was there a problem in that area that you felt you had to kind of get some things out of the collection that… Read More
I didn’t have to move animals out of the collection because our collection was meager in some areas and great in others and I liked it that way. For example, we had a very good bird collection because Earl had made arrangements years prior with the Australian Zoo to get… Read More
The direction that the zoo was going in was pretty good at the time Earl Davis was the director, but there was a lot of opportunity there, a lot of opportunity for me to have the input that I needed to have, because I am now, I’m taking his place. Read More
And that’s the way we did it in the new version. Read More
You mentioned his son, his son was working at the zoo at this time also or not?… Read More
Was the zoo society involved with it?… Read More
Was the city involved with it, or was it your zoo staff?… Read More
The zoo staff was involved. (coughs) The society was partially involved financially and the city government the other part of the financial situation to hire a planning firm to come in. That was our first big step, you know, can you imagine, finally, we had someone who wanted to dedicate… Read More
When you became director, did you have any vision that you said, you know, I think I’d like to take it slightly or radically in a different direction or what was going on, were you happy about the direction that had been planned?… Read More
At the time you took over, was the zoo still riding the popularity wasn’t that long afterwards of the first gorilla birth?… Read More
Yes, the popularity was there. The visitors were coming in and things had to change pretty quickly because we were getting large numbers in attendance and that continued. And of course, that’s exactly what we needed and wanted for the zoo start expanding. And that’s when we began to do… Read More
Who was involved in that master plan?… Read More
There wasn’t a zoo commission. There was a zoological society and they were active depending upon the political situation in the mayor’s office. The zoo society was politically on one side. And if their party was in, everything went well. And when it wasn’t, then things slowed down. Read More
Were they active when you were zoo director?… Read More
The zoological society was active through the chairman of the zoological society. Read More
What did I find as a difference?… Read More