In the beginning, he needed me very badly ’cause he knew absolutely nothing about animals. But as his five-year term that he reigned. You know, we went to AZA meetings and nobody would have anything to do with him. They didn’t like him, so I would be trying to introduce… Read More
They have bird beaks. You can learn a lot about different bird behavior by their beak. Whether they’re a frugivorous bird, whether they’re a carnivorous bird, they all have a different shaped beak and they also have different shaped feet and the feet for perching or for climbing or for… Read More
So we have docent stations all over the zoo. So they play both informal and formal role in educating our public. Now you mentioned that there was the marketing guy, Briggs, and he was followed by another non-animal guy. He was followed. At the same time, they thought that he… Read More
Because they felt with the influx of money from the Zoo Museum District, they wanted to make sure that the public funds were managed properly. So they thought the finance officer would make a good zoo director. Meanwhile, some of the members of the commission would call me aside and… Read More
But I did learn from everybody I ever worked under. Not only from those I worked under, I also learned from my fellow employees. I learned from Bob Fru. I learned from Jerry Lentz. I learned from Mike Fleig. Because when we were teaching classes, we’d get tired of teaching… Read More
Did you have more influence or did it still have to wait ’til you were the power?… Read More
Well both directors, the marketing director and the finance man when he was director, neither one recognized the value of volunteers. It wasn’t until I became zoo director in 1982 that one of the early trainees that I had as a docent came to me, “It’s okay, Charlie. You’re director. Read More
Was it important to the zoo?… Read More
Do you feel it was important?… Read More
I think the St. Louis Zoo show was an extension of our education role of the zoo in that we would able to get beyond our visitors to the zoo that we were able to reach people within 200-mile radius which is at that time was the radius that the… Read More
So I learned from every director that I worked under, but I still feel the best team is under the direction of a biologist, a naturalist, a zoologist who has in his culture the animals and the relationship with animals in the public, to be able to deal with the… Read More
Again backpedaling a bit to the TV show. Read More
Do you think that you were involved?… Read More
Or is it better to have the animal person with the business person second?… Read More
My honest answer is that I believe that the zoo director should be as close to a scientist as possible. I would think that you want a person who is an animal person, a scientist running the zoo with the assistance of a capable team. You need a business manager,… Read More
Did you learn public relations, things or tricks of the trade from Briggs?… Read More
I learned from every director I worked under. When there was a public relations director, I learned a lot. How to deal with the media, how to deal with the press, how to deal with the public. What you should talk about, what you shouldn’t talk about. Following him, we… Read More
Bob Briggs was PR person mostly. He had the role of zoo director. He was the chief executive officer. We had a finance officer at the time. We had a business manager at the time. The business manager ran the railroad, the gift shops and the food stands. I was… Read More
But the businessman took care of the gift shops. At that time, we had big souvenir shops, gift shops and also the railroad. Read More
Based on your experience in this world over a period of time, do you believe it’s better to have a business person running the zoo with an animal person, in a sense, second?… Read More