It’s the people and the visitor that suffer. The staff that suffer. The animals, yes, they may have mud, they may be lousy accommodations, but most of them look pretty healthy. I’ve never been to many zoos in this country where the animals just sit there, except roadside things, where… Read More
“Remember that, Jack, it could be old and clean. “So do something about the zoo, paint it.” He came up here once, he said, “This place is a wreck. “Can’t you just paint these buildings?” They called me Traprot Brown. I took every building this place and painted it brown. Read More
Oh, here’s another, here’s this young guy. Let’s see what he does, had a union here, and I’m not really a union person, but the point is that they should’ve had a union, the way they were treated, you know. They weren’t hurting them or nothing, It’s just no one… Read More
Got that, had my breakfast with my family, my brother and sister lived there, had our Christmas opening, had our lunch, got back in the car and got back here by five o’clock Christmas day. That was the first, maybe it was longer than six years, I know it was… Read More
We had more fun up here than a barrel of monkeys. Now I look back on it. We had a board, yes, and, but the zoo was 15 miles out of town. No one really cared what went on. You could see that when I got here, but you know… Read More
I think he had three directors, three directors in two years, right?… Read More
They kind of let you do what you wanted to do or?… Read More
That’s a good question. Yeah, because they just wanted a zoo downtown. Been there since 1920-something, so just take care of it. Read More
That’s a great, you know what it was here, at the zoo when I first got here?… Read More
I, know what I did then?… Read More
No more money, we’re done til this thing gets settled. Everyone said “Oh my God, you can’t do that.” The gorillas ain’t gonna die! I’m not gonna keep giving him money when the rebels come in there and rip it apart. So if, so, I guess what I’m saying is,… Read More
You know, they’re crazy going with me going on safari because I have no idea. I couldn’t tell you what a, I’m serious, I’m pretty bright now, but after filming for 40, 20, 30 years animals. But I go there and just talk to them about animal world in a… Read More
They go, they want to see the mountain gorillas, don’t they?… Read More
You know, something?… Read More
They leave there more, just incredible what Rwanda’s done. And they sit there with the people, and they had done, I wouldn’t tell you what they’ve given to our schools. You wouldn’t believe these schools, by the way. And not just that we supply now, all the gorilla tracking, all… Read More
“Hey Jack, guess what?… Read More
“You got a free dinner out of this, “but you’re gonna get to go see the chairman of this.” Or “Guess what? We’ll fly you to here.” “Guess what, Jack, you’re gonna do,” it’s like, I get a kick out of it. Because I say, okay, I know I’m like… Read More
“You don’t have to ask for a dime, okay?… Read More
“You just tell the story, “like you try to tell a story, “and you tell him what we’re doing at the zoo, “and then we’ll talk, take over from there.” Every year, I take six couples to Rwanda, where we have a little house there, right near the mountain gorillas. Read More
Oh, (laughs), yes. It’s sad, you know. I don’t mean sad, that’s not fair. Read More