Sep 12, 2008 8:53 pm US/Pacific
Report Finds SF Zoo Mostly Up To Standards
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
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Visitors at the San Francisco Zoo.
AP
A new city report, commissioned by San Francisco supervisors to assess the San Francisco Zoo's compliance with national and international animal welfare and conservation standards, and released Friday, gave the zoo a favorable grade, with some exceptions.
Animal rights activists have claimed many of the zoo's facilities and enclosure are outdated and inadequate for the proper care of its animals, citing the deaths of elephants and other animals at the zoo in recent years, as well as December's tiger escape during which a zoo visitor was mauled to death and the tiger was subsequently killed.
The report was requested after legislation was introduced by Supervisor Chris Daly to transform the 100-acre facility bordering the Pacific Ocean into a rescue zoo, with its primary mission the housing of wildlife, domestic and exotic animals rescued from inhumane treatment.
The board on Tuesday postponed a vote on the legislation in order to wait for Friday's report from the Office of the Legislative Analyst. A vote is scheduled for the next week.
Friday's report concluded that most of the zoo's current practices "compare favorably" with standards of the United States Department of Agriculture, which enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act, and with standards of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and similar associations in Canada and Europe.
"If you look at the entire body of the report, we're about 90 to 95 percent on center," Bob Jenkins, the zoo's director of animal care and conservation, said Friday.
"I think it's a very positive report as far as I'm concerned," Jenkins said.
The report noted, however, that though the zoo met animal welfare standards on veterinary care, handling of animals, environmental enrichment programs, feeding, watering and sanitation, it needed to make faster progress on modernizing its older exhibits.
"Some of the Zoo's animals may be suffering physically and mentally because their enclosures do not meet contemporary zoo standards," the report stated.
"There's always room for improvement," said Jenkins. "We've got half the zoo done, we want to work on the next half," he said.
Acknowledging the study had not been not conducted by zoo experts, the Office of the Legislative Analyst also recommended an independent consultant be hired "to properly address the major findings regarding animal welfare in this report."
"We believe that this approach would go furthest to benefit the animals that the Zoo keeps and the public that it serves," the report said.
Asked about the prospect, Jenkins said, "It doesn't matter a hill of beans to me, because I think we'll do just fine. I'm not particularly concerned about that recommendation."
The report additionally concluded that a regular evaluation of the zoo's conservation efforts needs to be implemented, and its written conservation plan needs to be finalized.
The zoo met standards on its conservation mission, on-site conservation staff, species survival plans and other programs, the report said.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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