But they worked with this animal and that’s the tenacity that they have to say, okay, we can take this and make it better. And I just think, I was able to see the sea change in that species management from the days of an angus and forceful management to… Read More
Not saying it’s a hundred percent, but it’s certainly much better than it was. And you talk about care and passion. You talk about working with their animals to accomplish things. The best example I can give of doing the right thing for an elephant is we have the oldest… Read More
Some will say, well, what’s big enough?… Read More
Well, okay, we can use the standards as a baseline, but you know, you’re never gonna be big enough. Tampa’s not big enough for the elephants that we’ve got in there, but they do fine in the exhibit. Zoos still need to be part of elephant management, whether it be… Read More
Yeah, I think we’re in a much better spot than we were 10 years ago. I think the days of one and two elephants in a zoo are gone. And they should be, we should not be exhibiting or housing elephants like that anymore. It needs to be in a… Read More
But yeah, I always admired them. Every time I was in Germany, I always made sure I stopped by to see, not necessarily visit with people, but see the collection and what was going on. Read More
Yeah, I think the Berlin Zoo in Tierpark Berlin. I think I’ve always admired them. They, again, strong, strong science collection related, collections of animals. And still today, are working on some great stuff. But I always admired them as far as the width and breadth of their collection and… Read More
Given your experience, you’ve kind of alluded to it, what’s your view regarding zoos maintaining elephants and how it should be done correctly?… Read More
And why would that be?… Read More
Are there any zoos in the world that you particularly admire?… Read More
I was the department head, but other individuals did all the heavy lifting. But it was nice to be, you know, a footnote on that one. But I think elephants, the Arabian oryx, California Condor, and I think that the implementation of that training program made me feel good that… Read More
The rest of it was up to us to do all the heavy lifting. So yeah. Yeah, those are the things I’m most proud of. Read More
And there are people around now that don’t even know that happened. But when it did, it was a pretty volatile situation. And we personally took heat for it. The institution took heat for it. But after you have a keeper die on your watch, if that doesn’t sober you… Read More
We’re the baby that’s crawling. We need to get a more robust program in conservation as far as what programs we participate in. I mean, Manatee, you know, is the stabilizer. That goes without question, but there’s so much else we should be doing. So I have to leave that… Read More
Yeah, I do. Not in any particular order, but the importation of the elephants from Swaziland. Ah, that was a huge thing. Participating in the Arabian Oryx release when I was in San Diego into Omani, was another, I think I said at the time to Jim, if I die… Read More
Do you have a proudest accomplishment?… Read More
Are there programs or exhibits that you would’ve implemented during your tenure at Tampa that did not happen?… Read More
I would’ve liked to have seen, but I know it’s still going on now. I started a keeper training program in San Diego, which just now blossomed into a national keeper training program, which I would’ve never, in my wildest dreams thought it would ever get to that level. And… Read More
All very doable. Just didn’t get it on the checklist, that’s all. ‘Cause I think, A, it deserves it. And B, it would be a great distinction to have for that facility. Considering where we are in Florida, like I say, you just look at the plant and it grows. Read More
Yeah. Wow. There’s a couple of, I think I would’ve liked to, we started breeding shoebills. We were the first zoo to breed shoebills. And that program, unfortunately, stalled out mostly because we didn’t have enough birds to rely on to build a population. That was frustrating ’cause we did… Read More