Interview 8364 – Caption Index: 684
You didn’t give him the Good Egg Award, did you?… Read More
You didn’t give him the Good Egg Award, did you?… Read More
Oh no, no. The Good Egg Award had to go– Talk about that. It had to go to something very special and even a millionth person wasn’t gonna get the Good Egg Award. Read More
That was your call with the support of the board?… Read More
Right. In 1982, the San Antonio Zoo hit the 1 million mark. Best attendance ever. Read More
Why was the zoo so successful that year and what did you do to draw people that sticks in your mind maybe that it hit that mark?… Read More
Honestly, I can’t remember. It’s been so long ago, but I know it wasn’t anywhere near what it is today. And I’m very pleased that Steve has been able to keep that figure so much higher and get the job done in this time when things are really expensive to… Read More
Were you always able to balance your budget and were you in the black?… Read More
We were pretty much in the black. We didn’t overspend. All of my animals sales when we had animals sales went into replacing the collection needs. And that was very important to me that we didn’t touch that money. And I had many of my board members who felt the… Read More
The money to run the zoo has always come from what we earn. There was probably a single digit percentage coming from the city, which went nowhere but to payroll below the senior staff. All of that money went to the payroll for our keepers. All the rest of the… Read More
How much I had?… Read More
How did the press, because of that relationship, how did the press treat you after the gorilla incident?… Read More
Not bad at all. I think for what it was, they thought that it was handled correctly. We didn’t have a major problem there. They were very interested, of course they would be and so they did a pretty good job of presenting it to their subscribers. Now, you’ve alluded… Read More
When you left the San Antonio Zoo, twofold question, what was your budget kind of when you left and how did you get that money to run the zoo?… Read More
Where did it come from?… Read More
Just cooperating with them as much as possible, giving them good stories, thanks to the staff who would put together a press release. Telling them we’re sending it. Read More
I would call the city desk or something and say, we got this for you, are you interested?… Read More
And they seemed to always be. Read More
Well, I think I did a pretty good job of relating to the media. They seemed to enjoy very much coming to visit and asking what’s going on at the zoo. And if we sent them a press release, they’d come flocking to the zoo to get more information. We… Read More
Did you nurture that relationship?… Read More
You bet I did. Read More