I didn’t even know how to reach into the creek to take the bird out without hurting its feathers, I thought, “Gee, I’m gonna create a problem here.” Anyway, I became an instant authority on birds diseases there of, and so forth. And there probably were about 6,000 birds in… Read More
Then one day the Colonel calls me in his office and he says, “Fisher, who you’ve been talking to?” And I said, “Nobody, sir, why?” He said, “Well, I’ve got your orders here “and you’re going overseas.” And he said, “I’ve looked over your 201 file,” that’s a personnel file… Read More
And so I started doing regular routine food work between the quartermaster Corps and the veterinary inspection work until one day, again, the Colonel calls me in and I was very blessed. I had a Colonel Sperry who was my chief in Europe. And it turned out that he was… Read More
And there were about, I think, 8 or 10 of us veterinarians all assigned there to Heinz, and we lived in the Webster Hotel, I recall that name somewhere in downtown Pittsburgh, I have no idea where exactly it would be. And there we were turning out just carloads of… Read More
And when we graduated, we were told we’d be called to active duty. And so I spent about six weeks, I think, between graduation and getting my orders to report. And the first part of my military service was hilarious, we were sent to Pennsylvania to a place where they… Read More
There was a packing house there that was making food for the troops, and I was doing what most of the veterinary people do, both in civilian life and in the military. And that’s looking after the safety of the food that feeds the people, the troops. And so I… Read More
Well, again, circumstances workout and they’re kind of fun. And looking back on it all during the war years, World War II years, a lot of people on campus were drafted. And I always thought it was just horrendous that a lot of kids that were just committed, and were… Read More
So thanks to Dr. Anderson, I got in. Well now, in 1943 you’re called to active duty in the Veterinary Corps of the United States Army. Read More
What work did you do as a veterinarian for the army?… Read More
He always had senior students riding with him that was part of their curriculum, and so I got to get exposed to veterinary medicine. And I’m sure in my mind, although nothing was ever said or proven, that it was only because of his interest in helping me that I… Read More
Well, it’s kind of a circuitous story. One of my very best friends in grade school and high school, Dick Reed, his dad worked for one of the packing houses, was either Swift and company or Wilson and Company, I don’t recall which of those two. And also I would… Read More
And fortunately for me it worked out. A lot of stuff in life, I guess, are circumstantial. And in my case, again, it was a happy circumstance. My sister helped me find a room in a big old wooden house on the edge of campus that a widower of a… Read More
So when did the idea of becoming a veterinarian happen?… Read More
Why did working with animals interest you?… Read More
Well, first of all, we always had a dog. So that I kind of, I guess, related to an animal. My dad had a Meat Market in the Bridgeport area of Chicago, and somehow I got into the animal bit, I guess. I just not being a farm kid, and… Read More
My earliest experience started when I was a kid. I’m a Chicago person born in the city, spent my life in Chicago, in Chicago area. And dad told me that when we were little kids, four of us, two sisters and a brother, I’m the baby of the family. And… Read More
Les Fisher, what was your earliest experience with zoos?… Read More
It’s like running down a long field, filled with hurdles, but we’ve got some pretty good jumpers. Read More
The mega zoo concept includes the, the globalization of the zoo field. Globalization has become a bad word, it’s causing so much trouble in terms of habitat destruction and loss of natural resources, loss of political responsibility as communities lose their opportunities to use the areas in which they live. Read More
Working out the best way to do that, the surest way, the most economical way. The ways that will give people a chance to understand them and enjoy them. I say, enjoy them, I don’t say much about sustaining their ecological contribution to the world we live in for a… Read More