San Francisco Zoo faces uncertain future
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San Francisco supervisors will decide next month whether to turn the city’s zoo into a facility for rescued animals, a move that could cost the public park its accreditation, after a supervisors’ committee decided Friday to send the matter to the full board, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The move comes months after a tiger, Tatiana, escaped from its compound at the zoo Dec. 25 and fatally mauled Carlos Souza Jr., 17, of San Jose. (Tatiana was shot dead by police. The tiger above currently lives at the zoo.)
The zoo has been under increased scrutiny since the attack, with attendance at the 79-year-old zoo dropping in the months after the attack. In June, the Zoological Society’s board of directors forced out the zoo’s executive director.
The Chronicle reports that the supervisors’ move has generated yeas and nays:
The action to move the measure forward was praised by animal-welfare advocates who have long pushed for more oversight of the San Francisco Zoo. But zoo officials warned that the legislation would stymie their fundraising abilities and all but kill the institution.
-- Francisco Vara-Orta