Today Steve and Mark discuss the launch of the Zoo & Aquarium Video Archive and the efforts and purpose of the project.

Interview Courtesy of Steve Dale and WGN Radio
Photo courtesy of Ingrid E. Albrecht

One of the oldest zoos in the nation, the Lincoln Park Zoo has been a leader in the zoo field for over a century. No one knows this better than Mark Rosenthal, retired Curator of Mammals from the zoo. He has an intimate knowledge of its history few have both from personal experience and documenting the stories of others. Rosenthal authored The Ark in the Park, a book on the history of the zoo, and since retirement has been involved with the Zoo and Aquarium Video Archive, which contain hours upon hours of video interviews with retired zoo professionals.

Courtesy of Steve Dale and WGN Radio

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Courtesy of KWRH Radio.

We begin with a clip from the great Ray Rayner, who regularly featured Dr. Fisher, often in a segment called “Ark in the Park.” I grew up watching these segments, which helped to inspire my interest in animals. And I said so in a book I authored a long time ago, called American Zoos. And years later, contributed a cover line to Dr. Fisher’s book, Dr. Fisher’s Life on the Ark: Green Alligators, Bushman, and Other Hare-Raising Tales from America’s Most Popular Zoo and Around the World.

So, how do you get to be 100 years old? He reveals that secret.

So, how did this random suburban veterinarian come to become the zoo doctor and ultimately the zoo director to follow the legendary Marlin Perkins, of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom?

Dr. Fisher is Betty White’s elder – not too many of those, and he can call her “kid.” He recalls a sweet Betty White story about a Raggedy Ann doll.

He reminisces about the gorillas that got away, from Bushman, to Sinbad to Otto. Of course, today gorillas and great apes are treated – appropriately – so differently. Still, Fisher must have done something right, as over 50 gorillas were born under his tenure. The Great Ape House at the Zoo is today called the Dr. Lester Fisher Great Ape House.

One listener even recalled Dr. Fisher as his family dog’s veterinarian back in the 1950’s.

More with Dr. Fisher on this WGN Radio podcast, including a story about how a bear made its way out of the zoo and into a neighborhood bar. Could that really happen?

Fun fact: Dr. Fisher served in World War II in Europe as a veterinarian for Gen. George S. Patton’s bull terrier, Willie.

Courtesy of Steve Dale and WGN Radio