Local Animal Advocates Seek SF Board of Supervisors Intervention in Zoo Controversy
Mayor-initiated Recreation and Park Commission Hearings not Sufficient, Group Says
Tomorrow, In Defense of Animals (IDA) will ask the Board of
Supervisors to hold independent hearings on the fundamental management and
leadership failings at the San Francisco Zoo as evidenced by the recent tiger
attack that left one young man dead and two seriously injured. IDA said Mayor Gavin Newsom’s plan to hold
Recreation and Park Commission hearings is not sufficient to address the crisis
at the Zoo.
“The Recreation and Park Commissioners cannot convene
independent oversight hearings on matters that involve their own oversight
failings,” said IDA president Elliot M. Katz, DVM. “The Commission has allowed zoo mismanagement
to continue for years, culminating in the most recent and extreme tragedy.”
IDA will address the
Board of Supervisors at its meeting tomorrow, January 8, 2008 at 2 p.m. at City
Hall.
“A fundamental change in zoo management and direction is
long overdue,” said Katz, noting that a Band-Aid fix of higher barriers and
minor changes to zoo management will not suffice. “The San Francisco Zoo must become an
institution that makes our city proud, one that places the well-being of
individual animals and public safety as top priorities, and teaches visitors
true respect for the non-human animals with whom we share the planet.”
Among the zoo management transgressions that have occurred under the Recreation and Park Commission’s oversight:
- The failure to place animal well-being as a priority, as evidenced by the fact that less than ten percent of the 100-acre zoo is allotted to the nearly 1,000 animals who live there.
- The misuse of $48 million in bond money, passed to improve conditions for animals, but used in large measure on people amenities, leaving the animals to languish in 1940’s era exhibits.
- The failure to address the elephant crisis that saw the deaths of three elephants within a year directly resulting from the inhumane conditions in which they were forced to live for decades.
- The string of recent animal deaths and injuries at the zoo, including two elands killed by another eland; a hippopotamus who died one day after a questionable move to a temporary exhibit; two black swans who died of shock, and a dozen penguins who died from an infectious bird disease.
IDA is an international animal rescue and advocacy
organization based in