Well, I guess I can say in retrospect, I was truly fortunate. First of all, the zoo is not a separate entity. The zoo is owned and operated by the Chicago Park District, and the Park District had a full-time PR staff. So that these were people that looked after… Read More
We had an animal that was, I think, gonna go from Cleveland, I can’t remember if it was a male or female, to the Bronx Zoo in New York. And the newspapers got hold of the story and they decided to play it up, and pretty soon, next thing I… Read More
How did you define your role working with the press?… Read More
Some came from captive breeding, some had never bred. And the feeling was that this group were to tell other institutions how to move their animals around to encourage the national captive breeding program, and to minimize inbreeding. The problem with the gorilla SSP that I ran into very quickly. Read More
And how did that aid in the changing of the zoo philosophy about gorillas?… Read More
Well, it certainly was a first for me and for the gorillas, but it also was a forerunner of other species. The SSP means Species Survival Plan. And what that means is that if, for example, you’ve got two gorillas, and Joe down the road got three, and someone else… Read More
When was that?… Read More
Well, everybody likes to think of sexy animals, and a lot of times everyone thought the koala bear was an animal that was really unusual and sexy. And eventually we ended up getting some koalas, but another animal that I personally was endeared about, and excited about when I first… Read More
You served as chairman of the Gorilla SSP, you were the first chairman. Right. Read More
Was there ever an animal, or a group of animals that you wanted to have at Lincoln Park zoo, but weren’t able to acquire?… Read More
And so we proceeded to observe the animal and she had, which was a little unusual as I recall it for most of the animals, although she was young and this was her first time delivery. She had some problems, it was not a quick, easy delivery, it was over… Read More
So that’s the story, I think we named the baby Kumba because it was a 1970, would be my guess on that mark, that, that was the time of the first baby gorilla at Lincoln Park Zoo. And of course, that was just the first of a long, long line… Read More
And so he, and I, I think probably one or two of the staff, went into the cage with the animal and he was able to do a brief exam. I don’t remember that he necessarily did a proper vaginal exam because I’m not sure she would have held fast… Read More
First occurred while you were director, and that is the birth of a gorilla baby, can you tell me a little something about that?… Read More
Yeah, that’s another good story and a fun story. Our female gorilla, Mumby I think was her name, was pregnant and this was exciting for us because it was going to be a first ever in our zoo, we’d had before that wonderful animals, we’d had Bushman the famous big… Read More
At that time, I think we felt that there’s not an issue, the numbers game is nothing to worry about. The supplies are endless and we indeed could or would work with dealers, and bring in birds, mammals, reptiles, you name it. Finally, people started recognizing the fact that it… Read More
And how did that effect and impact gorilla conservation?… Read More
Well, over a period of time, as with all things like that, you go from one side of the cycle to the other. The very first recollection I have of great ape conservation was the orangutans. The baby orangs of all the ape babies anyway are by far, in my… Read More
At that time, no. My recollection is that there weren’t that many animals being brought in, the fact that these were bona fide orphans on the export bureaucratic level, the animals were cared for by people in Africa as baby animals would or should be. And the fact that, again,… Read More
Were there objections from people for you bringing in the gorilla?… Read More