And Mr. Z, Hondoler came out of, originally a fertilizer company. And I became aware of him when I was still in St. Louis. And he traveled all over the world and developed great many connections, which he used to obtain animals and sell them to zoos. My impression of… Read More
Oh, yes. Not daily. No. There were days when I would concentrate in a particular area. So I couldn’t be counted on to be in every exhibit in every area every day. If I did, I wouldn’t do anything else in a 265 acre zoo. We had talked about animal… Read More
Oh, I was very involved. Ran all the staff meetings, ran all the animal management meetings, ran all the major exhibit planning efforts and (clears throat) the longterm vision programs. I imagine most directors are. Read More
Would you make rounds daily?… Read More
How involved were you in the day as director?… Read More
Were you involved in the day-to-day activities and hands-on after you became director?… Read More
What was the most difficult time for you at the zoo?… Read More
We have had some horrendous budget problems in the city of New York. And to the extent that the city pays a part of the zoo’s budget, which seems less every year, they were terrible times when I had to reduce staff, drop treasured projects, and plans for others. These… Read More
Did you have the ability to talk conservation with them?… Read More
We had very little ability to talk with them, there were too many people and we weren’t commonly aware of the fact that they were coming. So it was not the kind of situation that one could develop as a conservation effort, specifically. But on the other hand, it reminded… Read More
What was the reaction from the politicians and celebrities when the panda came to New York, did you all of a sudden have more friends?… Read More
A great many people came to see the panda and that included all sorts of friends and politicians and that was good. Read More
Are we sure it’s helping the panda?… Read More
In any case, pandas came to the Bronx Zoo, mainly through the efforts of Ed Kotch, the mayor. And when he went to China, he felt he would be helping the zoo and helping the panda by arranging a loan and he did. And in the event, he was not… Read More
If they really care about their pandas, one would think they do, they are doing a lot of wonderful work with them, why not send out pandas for exhibits in a different way?… Read More
And where a zoo does pay, are we really sure how the money is being used?… Read More
Well, necessary?… Read More
Does anybody think China needs that kind of money even a few years ago?… Read More
Why not?… Read More
The Rent a Panda Program, which China had introduced where upon it was sending out zoos, sending out pandas to zoos for high prices that seem to me to commercialize the wellbeing, the presentation, the whole atmosphere of the giant Panda effort and its conservation in a way that was… Read More