1/16/2024 0 Comments Gulf breeze zoo jobs![]() ![]() Maybe financially difficult for them to pay AAAZPA or AZA dues or they were ignored by or they were not able to get animals from- We were dealing mostly with zoos that had AZA that were working for the government and they were working for city or county and they were funded. These small group of people, they wanted standards, they wanted approval, they wanted to meet standards, they wanted approval, but it was difficult for them. They also were ostracized from a lot of the big institutions who were accredited by the AAZPA. Well, the people that were private and the people that were little guys or privately owned facilities or people that just had small collections, some not open to the public, some open to the public, they needed a voice, they needed to be able to communicate together and share information. My mother got after me and I was running around the house like this, and I slid under the bed. So I make a detour to the right, go up there, and get in there, start catching these turtles and fish and put them in my underwear and my socks, everywhere I could put them, and I was a mess, I had all those clothes on too. ![]() I remember one Easter, I got Easter clothes and I said, “Mom, it’s Friday, it’s the last week of school, can I wear my Easter clothes?” She says, “Yes, but don’t get them dirty.” Well, then the morning I started out to school and I heard the frogs croaking in the swamp, in the willows. I’d take take a hamster to school or something and get it in the wall somewhere and be in the school and everybody was looking for this hamster. I said, “Mom, do you wanna see the snake again?” And she looked at me funny and she said, “Okay.” I pulled that snake out and showed it to her, she lost her voice for about four days, she couldn’t speak (laughs). Then a little later on, I was at the house in the basement and I had the snake in my pocket. I think man wasn’t brought up on grass, man was eating dead carcasses, sharing it with lions and things like that. So it really is… There’s a difference in the thrill of killing something, but a successful hunt is the use of many skills. People thought that we’re killing all the deer off, deer populations are increasing and increasing because of agriculture and planting feed plots. So I’ve told people that said, “Oh, you hunt?” I said, “Yes, I hunt.” “Oh, it’s terrible, how do you do that when you’re a…” I said, “Have you bought a duck stamp this year?” “No.” “Do you have a fishing license?” “No.” “Have you given any money to nature conservancy?” “No.” I said, “You’re not doing anything for wildlife, you got to spend money, and that’s what brings the money in to save wildlife.” I said, “If all these animals, the big horn sheep, elk, a lot of the deer.” Deer in North America, there is 130 million deer in North America, 4,000 deer in Alabama alone. If you look at things like, look at Turkey Federation, Quail Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, Delta Ducks, these are all people that hunt and these are all people that understand the necessity for conservation of wetlands, understand food and migrations. Every time you buy a gun or buy a shell or buy a fish hook, a bow and arrow, all those things, there is a bill that a portion of that money goes into wildlife. I think about $4 million or more per day goes into the federal budget from hunters and fishermen. Well, we hunted because we ate a lot of game. Now, as a youngster, you had to learn to hunt. My dad saw me do it, so he got his belt off, started snapping his belt, and he said, “What are you doing scaring those animals?” “Dad, I wasn’t scaring them, I was just playing with them.” I said, “What are you gonna whip me for?” He said, “I’m not gonna whip you, but the ducks didn’t know you weren’t trying to kill them and now you think I’m trying to kill you.” That was a good lesson I learned from my dad. I had baby ducks and I was doing this to them and they’d dive under the water and I’d go up to do this, and they’d dive under the water and dive under the water again, and I was watching them under water. ![]() We used that for washing clothes and things like that because we had no water in the house. I remember one of the best lessons I learned, I had some baby ducks and we had a spout that caught all the rain to go into the big tub. So it was interesting being raised up in the hills there. ![]()
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