Frank was startled and genuinely upset for a moment, and then he turned to the dealer and said, “I want that animal,” and so automatically the price of that baby chimp went up 10 fold, and we ended up getting the animal. I think that’s the one we call Sam,… Read More
Bringing animals in from Africa was, again, a bureaucratic issue. You were involved with Department of Agriculture, there were certain permits required, both for export from country of origin, and import for country of destination. Paperwork seemingly took time, there was no simple way to get around the bureaucracy. And… Read More
And so whether they came to the orphan state because the mother was killed. Whether the mother, for whatever reason, abandoned the baby, in most cases we didn’t know. And that was the way that we brought back a lot of our early kids, and I established rapport with some… Read More
And what was the social climate like for the importation of gorillas at that time?… Read More
Well, I guess for me psychologically, the reptiles were by far the most challenging, because again, I wasn’t about to reach into a cage to get a rattlesnake out, or a big Python, or boa constrictor. I wasn’t comfortable working with these animals. And I had to rely entirely on… Read More
And when you’re working around animals, especially wild animals it’s combination of both. And so just as I would tell new employees at the zoo, hopefully if you’re scared of animals, you don’t belong here. If you lose a respect for that animal, someday potentially you may be sorry and… Read More
Were other animals, or groups of animals challenging, medically to take care of?… Read More
And it turned out that it’s what we call, medically a subdural hematoma. It’s a case where a blow to the head causes bleeding under the scalp, and the hematoma is not a cancer or a growth, it’s just a swelling of blood that poured out under there. And what… Read More
It was a good one. Read More
My first reaction was that here was a special little kid that needed special care, and physically in Chicago the Children’s Hospital is just a, maybe a 10-minute drive from where Lincoln Park Zoo is on the near north side of Chicago. And so I just scooped up the animal,… Read More
No, I do not remember a date. The animal was a youngster, less than a year old. Was in the cage with its parents, at least with its mother, I can’t remember if at that time the male was in there too. And for whatever reason, the keeper came running… Read More
And the question was, what to do?… Read More
And do you remember a date on that?… Read More
But in addition to that, as time went on and I needed specialized help, the veterinarians in the Chicago area were basically what I was, small animal practitioners, dogs, and cats, and assorted sorted little critters. And if we needed someone that was, say an ophthalmologist to work on the… Read More
Can you tell us about the gorilla that went to Children’s Memorial Hospital, and why it went there, and what happened?… Read More
Well, I lived across the street from Lincoln Park Zoo. I had an apartment there in Lincoln Park West in Chicago, and in our apartment building was my pediatrician. I had two daughters, youngsters at the time and Dr. Martin Hardy was his name. And he was on staff at… Read More
And this was a night call two, three in the morning on a rainy, thundering, lightning evening. When I got to the zoo and the keeper said, “Doc, we’ve got this animal, she’s trying to deliver.” And we were able to rope her and get her head and corner the… Read More
Why did you do that and how did that evolve?… Read More
Well, my philosophy was to try and learn, because I may have stated earlier in these discussions that I was a classic city boy, had no farm experience, didn’t know anything literally about wildlife, other than the little I’d read and was aware of as any youngster in school might… Read More
And I was trying to be medically supportive and I think it took them months before their baby finally settled down and did well. And for us, Bozie medically, I don’t recall as a problem. So the story of Bozie is just a silly fun story of timing, and coincidences,… Read More