Well, perhaps the biggest problem now is finding experienced and educated staff members who will stay. Maybe they decide they wanna go on to be a zoo director. Well, that’s a goal in itself, but they may have been much better off as a curator, a very specialized curator. And… Read More
Do you mean in areas of education or conservation or research, those kinds of things?… Read More
Well, yes in those things as well, but I think when you, those words that you’re mentioning, conservation, they’re all important, but you can overdo that in favor of letting other things go. Read More
Should there be a good zoo man at charge of the zoo, put animal person, or should there be with a business person behind them or should a good business person be running the zoo and have a good animal person underneath that?… Read More
Well, I think either way it could work. However, if I were the zoo person who was not running the zoo, I would not be a very happy camper. I think in my way of thinking, experience counts. And if you’ve never taken care of an animal in a zoo,… Read More
What would you consider the largest professional problem that face US zoos today?… Read More
And if there is one, in your opinion, is there something that can be done to correct it?… Read More
Oh, yes. The best acquisition I could have ever made was the rhinos. For example, having the first rhino born in a zoo, the antelope collection, which was major and I think is still a major contribution to what’s happened in zoos over the last 30, 40 years. Those two… Read More
What skillset qualities does a zoo director need today, in your opinion, just compared to when you started?… Read More
Well, I think that they have more skills now, if you wanna consider education levels than in my earlier years, but I’m afraid they lack that ability to get out and see what’s happening with regard to the visitors. I prefer, for example, to see a zoo director who comes… Read More
These are some questions now, they are pretty broad based in general. Read More
At which zoo did you feel you accomplished the most?… Read More
Well, no question in my mind, the most accomplishment for me has been San Antonio Zoo because of the number of years that I was there and the capability of me doing it as a result of having a very cooperative board of directors and in a nonprofit organization that… Read More
During your time in any of these zoos, is there one animal species that stands above the others that you considered to be maybe the most significant that you acquired?… Read More
How involved were you in the day-to-day activities and hands-on when you became director, did you do the rounds?… Read More
Oh yes. Many times a day. (laughs) I have one time someone said to me, “You don’t spend more than an hour at any given time in your office.” And I didn’t, because my business was out there on the zoo grounds, not in my office so much. I had… Read More
They might wanna have that break and I wanted them to, but not excessive breaks and the people don’t know that it’s three o’clock and it’s time for their break, they’re just wondering, why aren’t they out there feeding the animals and us watching them instead of sitting doing nothing?… Read More
Well, tell me the question again so I can make sure I don’t let it go by too quickly. That every zoo is a reflection of the zoo director. Okay. Read More
What did you mean?… Read More
What I mean by that is, and it should be this way, the zoo director has to put forth the idea and from that idea then comes the finished product based on whatever else the zoo board, the city government, or county government whatever the governing body is and the… Read More