Gerry Porter, told us that Ken truly believes you must live a lie worth writing about. Before he became an educator and consultant for universities and school districts, he worked in the world of research and wild animal training in the motion picture industry for many years. He holds advanced degrees in anthropology, instructional technology
and education. He lives and writes in the San Bernardino mountains with his wife, Tammy. When not writing and lecturing, he loves to ride his BMW adventure motorcycle down the Baja peninsula to unnamed beaches and bays.
Ken began by telling us that he was the first in his family to
graduate from high school. He was expelled from 2 school districts
(for stunts like turning the sprinklers on during homecoming). He turned his life around thanks to an algebra teacher, Rotarian Mr. Kazmerski, who took him on.
For awhile, he worked as a stunt man before going into education working with gang intervention and later as school principal. He learned American Sign Language (ASL) and was hired to work with chimps by using ASL. He told of one chimp who came up to him and asked, in ASL, if he wanted to play hide and seek. The chimp told him that he would hide and Ken needed to find him. Ken has worked with lions, tigers, elephants as well as chimps. Once, while working with a full grown chimp who was causing trouble. After a bit, she signed that she would be good but went on to bite Ken in the knee.
Ken once got a call from Clint Eastwood asking if he could train an orangutan for a movie he was doing called Any Which Way But Loose.
He got a call about an elephant named Congo who had escaped and was running loose in a parking lot. Congo looked all around the parking lot until he found a truck. He pounded on the truck, flattening it. It wound up that the truck belonged to a handler who was mistreating him. Once Congo destroyed the truck, he went back to his enclosure without further incident.
In Gerry’s introduction he said, “I know you are all familiar with the Dos Equis commercials and the most interesting man in the world. How many of you have met the most interesting man in the world? Well, in my opinion, you are about to meet him. “Stay thirsty Mi Amigo!” Well, Gerry, I think everyone in the room agrees with you. This was such an entertaining presentation that many of us did not want it to end. Thank you Ken for taking the time to visit our club. You can read Ken’s blog at http://bajamotoquest.com. And be sure to read Almost Human (available on Amazon).