Well, I think dolphins were pretty cause celeb also because, again, people love dolphins. And they have the perpetual smile. I think people came to love killer whales simply because, again, their majesty, their grace, their size, what they can do, the speed of how they can swim. One of… Read More
And some of them don’t make it to their first birthday. They don’t count a whale in the wild, the people that are doing any census work, until they see a calf born, or not see it born, but see it its mother, and then it happens to be with… Read More
It’s always funny when you get, “Well, you make them do unnatural behaviors.” “Well, what do you mean unnatural?… Read More
Was that an issue or just part of the job?… Read More
It was just part of the job. I think a lot of people, once they got to know us, me, and then other people, you know, we had people come here a couple years ago for the CPSG and the WAZA meeting. WAZA is the World Association of Zoos and… Read More
And I think, in the future, we don’t need to circle the wagons. We just need to work together better. Read More
In October of 2016 at the AZA and IMATA conference you made the statement, “It was a tough year. Read More
Rough is good for you.” You meant what?… Read More
Well, their conference was rough simply because the keynote speaker was the CEO from the Human Society talking to people as he would to a minion audience. And he reminded me of a car salesman or an evangelist pontificating on how well they’ve cared for animals. You know, they make… Read More
And they’re all connected. When you look at the spiderweb of humane groups that don’t want animals in our lives, there’s connections of they’ve either worked for each other or money’s going somewhere. They wanna deny all that, but it’s in there 1099s. I mean, if if they can be… Read More
And therefore, then, will people come to zoos and aquariums?… Read More
HSUS us and PETA don’t want zoos and aquariums, period. They’ve said that for years. Read More
And why they change their spots?… Read More
Do you think that empowers HSUS and PETA and other organizations to make it difficult for zoo and aquariums to continue programs, not only in the marine mammals, but elephants or gorillas?… Read More
Absolutely it empowers them. If they can do it to SeaWorld, they can do it to anybody. And it’s one species at a time here. They’re just gonna go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom until most of the big mega-vertebrates are gone from zoos and aquariums. Read More
Is it something that was in the plans?… Read More
I mean, you brought polar bears in or how would that occur?… Read More
I don’t know if that’s in their future plans right now. Most of the polar bears that were acquired by us were either born in zoos or orphaned. I think, again, for polar bears you need to build the proper habitat. And some of the ones that were built 20… Read More
So we need the animals to have that visual cue, that auditory cue that so that people can have a part in that decision making on changing their behavior that might help change the behavior of where the animals live. You had mentioned that, in March of 2016, the CEO… Read More
’68, I think it was, 1968, or ’78, 1978 to play rugby. But I got to go to some game safari places to see the game and the animals. And I just fell in love with the animals. And going back to Zimbabwe and sitting there watching elephants 20 feet… Read More