Bøger af J D Porter

Animals have much to teach us if we will take the time to listen. Animals have quite literally changed J. D. (Doug) Porter's life. He looks at some of the most noteworthy in his memoir, Lessons from the Zoo: Ten Animals that Changed My Life. From animal keeper to zoo director, Porter's career spanned over forty years. It included positions with a half dozen of America's great zoos during the most transformational era in zookeeping in more than a century-a time when zoos went from 19th century menageries to modern day arks. A chance visit to the Atlanta Zoo in the 1970s launched a career that began at Busch Gardens and continued during the construction of a massive new zoo in Toronto. Porter oversaw the animal collection at the Louisville Zoo, directed the redevelopment of the Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo, and served as deputy director of the Toledo Zoo during its centennial years. Humans have been training animals for thousands of years. We have trained them to pull wagons, herd livestock, and guard our camps. We have also taught them to perform useless tricks for our amusement. These days, animal care professionals train animals to submit to behaviors that improve their own lives (injections, blood pressure monitoring, and other health related routines) as well as tasks that benefit human lives (therapy, search & rescue, and law enforcement). But animals can teach us, as well. The earliest dogs appeared about fifteen thousand years ago when humans began displacing Neanderthals in Northern Europe and Asia. People might be surprised to learn of recent speculation that perhaps humans did not create dogs by domesticating wolves. Perhaps wolves domesticated themselves. They might have accomplished this by staying in proximity to human settlements, scavenging our leftovers, and adapting to our ways over generations. We have long imagined some clever human training a wolf to guard the camp and hunt for food. What if it was the other way around? What if it was clever wolves that taught those primitive humans to accept them into their society? Porter developed his love of nature growing up in the piney woods and mangrove swamps of Florida's gulf coast and nurtured that passion for nearly fifty years as he managed parks, zoos, and museums. The number of animals he worked with during his career is beyond measure. He has been bitten, clawed, kicked, and head-butted. He has watched animals being born and seen them take their last breath. He has had an impact on the lives of countless animals, but they have had an impact on his life, as well. They have taught him some valuable lessons. Porter learned to trust by facing off against Bwana the elephant and to walk his own path from Thelma the wayward mule. He learned how to overcome some of his fears by handling snakes and the importance of the Golden Rule from chimps and gorillas. Rhinos helped him realize that he will never be too old to learn, and a dog named Joy taught him how to seize the day. But what is the greatest lesson of all? Find out in Lessons from the Zoo: Ten Animals that Changed My Life.

What can quail hunters, shotguns, dogs, and mules teach us about life? Plenty, it seems. J. D. Porter spent three seasons in the South Georgia woods driving a mule wagon for a quail hunting operation. The pace of his hunt was dictated by the speed of a couple of mules pulling a wagon. When he was not conversing with the hunters, talking to his dog, or swearing at his mules, he was sitting with his feet propped up on the wagon reflecting on life and thinking about how lucky he was to be there. He has boiled some of his reflections down to simple life-lessons that include slowing our lives down, being present in the moment, and showing more kindness to the people around us. He has also come to appreciate the benefits of disconnecting from our fast-paced, digital world and taking the time to appreciate nature. This little book, The View from a Wagon, offers five big lessons for living life in the slow lane-lessons learned from a slow wagon, fast dogs, and opinionated mules.

The Dotson Park Zoo is a typical American zoo-a zoo that has long prided itself on being at the cutting edge of zoo technology. Its history includes a wrestling bear that kills a man in a bar-fight, a cobra in a baby carriage, and chimpanzees and elephants living together in the same space. It is a story replete with shady deal-making, backstabbing and even murder. At the Dotson Park Zoo, the only thing more dangerous than the animals is the politics. Many modern zoos have reached their hundredth anniversary and dozens of books have been written for their centennials, but it is unlikely that any zoo had the knowledge of past events to tell the whole story-until now. The Dotson Park Zoo story may be a work of fiction, but it is a tale that will ring true for anyone who has ever been immersed in the culture of zoos.