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
How did you do that?… Read More
No. I think in each of those cases, it was the curatorial staff that got the information and we all agreed that that’s what we should do. You talked about the incident with the gorilla and obviously it made the press in San Antonio. Read More
What kind of a presence did you have in the media?… Read More
How were you reacting relating to the media in San Antonio?… Read More
And you were part of a national program then?… Read More