'The children would love that!' And the zoo, too, she snerked inwardly. 'They already go crazy over all the free stickers.'
Promotional materials would strike well with the Board of Directors, too. Appealing to various demographics, creating a brand, establishing trends, the literal version of "Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt to prove it." Abby understood the necessity for administrative hassles; PR geniuses and their gimmicks allowed the zoo to foster a healthy environment - even living in the shadow of the much larger, more well funded Los Angeles Zoo - making it possible for her to focus solely on what she loved. The day to day welfare of the zoo's varied inhabitants and making sure that they were as healthy and happy - like noting Weir's love of giant, cuddly-cozy sunbathing hammocks - as the running of the facilities.
Her brother Julian, however, knew all about promoting.
'I'll ask my brother if there are any other affordable publicity stunts like that we could use. He's into promotion and gets about as excited over it as we do dung beetles and sloths.'
Gathering momentum like a rolling stone, Abby jumped onboard the wacky, energy-emitting chaos that was Robb McLellan's enthusiasm. Their eyes equally bright blue and locked together, coffees, food, murdered animals aside and barreling forward on a gathering wave of zip-zapping back-and-forth idea sharing.
Two forces of nature - thunder and lightning, wind and rain, mass and motion - joining together to create an unstoppable brainstorm.
'Oh! Not wishing to assume anything, but how well is Weir trained? I mean, she’s fine with you, obviously, but... Now, this may be completely off base but if we really wanted to make some money here- for the breeding program, I mean. Or running costs, wages for you and Weir, however you want, make this self-sustaining... We could really do some good-'
She paused, taking a deep breath to settle the excitement tripping up her tongue so she could get the point across clearly without dragging Robb's eyes from his skull in anticipation.
'You know at sea parks where they do photo ops with killer whales and dolphins, sea lions, whatever? With the right setup it might be possible to do that with Weir, too! Auction off tickets for meet-and-greets, souvenir photos in prints or on tee-shirts. They could sign release waivers for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.... What do you think?'