Maintaining the Balance of Nature : The Man the S.D. Zoo Calls Its Most Trusted Transporter Is Under Federal Scrutiny

Federal authorities are reviewing the endangered-wildlife permit of EarlTatum, an Arkansas animal dealer who is a key purchaser and transporter of animals from the San Diego and other prestigious U.S. zoos.

Tatum, one of the busiest and best-known haulers and buyers of so-called exotic, or non-native, species from the nation’s zoos, and the principal transporter for the San Diego Zoo, has had a host of difficulties with federal wildlife regulators in recent years, government documents show. But officials said a civil fine of $7,000 levied against him last week for the 1986 sale of a zoo-bred snow leopard cub, a member of an endangered species, appears to be his most serious violation to date.

Tatum was paid $1,500 for the snow leopard, but allegedly attempted to disguise the transaction as a donation in order to circumvent federal law requiring that endangered animals be sold only to authorized permit holders, according to U.S. Department of Interior documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Authorities say the alleged violation, combined with Tatum’s history of regulatory problems, last fall prompted the review of Tatum’s federal permit to handle endangered and threatened animals and could result in its revocation--a relatively rare sanction imposed only for “willful” violations of wildlife statutes.

“I think revocation of his permit is under serious consideration,” said Jill Fallon, a special assistant in the office of the solicitor of the Department of the Interior in Washington. “This is not an innocent violation.”

Under federal law, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits are required for the interstate sale and transfer of endangered or threatened animals. Loss of the permit would hinder Tatum’s ability to do business with San Diego and other zoos, many of which say they require the document.

Tatum did not return several telephone calls to his Arkansas home and business. His wife, Dianna, said he continues to deny the allegation that he wrongly sold the snow leopard. “He’s going to fight it, you bet,” she said.

The widespread zoo practice of selling captive-bred, “surplus” wildlife to Tatum and other dealers is a much-debated and extremely divisive topic within the zoo and animal rights communities.

Tatum, 59, a breeder, hauler and dealer based near Eureka Springs, Ark., in the Ozarks, has established himself as a kind of a latter-day, profit-making Noah, buying and selling a menagerie of exotic wildlife bred in captivity, mostly in U.S. zoos. From the viewpoint of his defenders, including those at the San Diego Zoo, Tatum plays a crucial role in the effort to save rare species bred in captivity.

In recent years, he has acquired hundreds of creatures, both endangered and not, from many of the most prestigious zoos, including those in San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, Miami, Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Dallas, Sacramento and Fresno.

Between January, 1984, and December, 1988, federal documents show, Tatum purchased or traded for 108 threatened or endangered animals from the San Diego Zoological Society, buying everything from camels and exotic antelope to deer and zebras, lemurs, kangaroos, gazelles and Asian lions. In 1988, the society even donated a male cheetah to him, records show.

Tatum and others in the same business are part of a circle of commercial dealers and brokers who regularly make the rounds of the nation’s zoos, seeking unwanted animals for sale to a wide array of buyers, as well as for breeding and their own collections. These middlemen buy and trade, offering their transportation expertise and often other animals in exchange for the surplus zoo wildlife.

Although largely unknown to the public--and, according to critics, insufficiently regulated--these dealers, brokers and transporters have historically been key adjuncts to zoos. Early in the 20th Century, many dealers were swashbuckling collectors who combed the far reaches of the globe in search of zoo specimens.

In the past two decades, the commercial dealers have benefited from the rapid growth of large-scale captive-breeding programs in zoos and game parks nationwide, a movement that has provided many surplus exotic animals that end up on the market. Among the prospective buyers are other zoos, wildlife ranches, breeders, private collectors and others.

Even before the snow leopard case emerged, the San Francisco, Los Angeles and Detroit zoos had ceased doing business with Tatum. Officials at those facilities voiced suspicions that some of the animals Tatum purchased might have been sold at exotic auctions--a growing but controversial industry--or been otherwise purchased by questionable buyers, including hunting ranches, where big-game hunters pay thousands of dollars to shoot trophy species.

The San Diego Zoo suspended relations with Tatum last fall after journalists for the CBS television program “60 Minutes” raised questions about Tatum’s presence at a Missouri wildlife auction.

San Diego zoological officials say the “60 Minutes” inquiries also prompted them to cut ties with James Fouts, a Kansas-based animal dealer and transporter who purchased four African addaxes at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in 1985, among other animals. Fouts acknowledges that the four addaxes, a species of antelope known for its twisting horns, were later hauled to a Missouri auction.

But San Diego Zoo officials said they resumed business with Tatum after he assured them he did not buy or sell animals at the auction, but was merely there as an observer.

Although auctions are legal, zoo officials nationwide have long opposed the sale of their animals at such events because of fears that the animals could be mistreated or end up at even more unsavory destinations--such as hunting farms, roadside menageries, research institutions or in the hands of pet dealers and private owners unable to provide adequate care. There is also concern that the animals could eventually make their way back to zoos, possibly thwarting efforts to prevent inbreeding of captive collections.

Zoos officials say they would prefer their animals to be sold to other accredited zoos or legitimate parks and breeders, but much of the surplus stock consists of males that exist in abundance in captivity.

Tatum, like the San Diego Zoo and most other big-city zoos, is a member of the American Assn. of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, the principal industry trade group and self-policing body. The association’s guidelines explicitly prohibit its members from offering wildlife for sale at public auction.

Tatum and other dealers, or brokers, provide zoos with three essential services: transporting animals, relieving zoos of their surplus or unwanted wildlife and selling hard-to-find animals to the zoos. Zoological officials say there are only a small number of haulers nationwide who are qualified in the difficult task of safely moving zoo animals; only seven “suppliers,” including Tatum, are accredited members of the trade group.

In fact, Tatum is so important to the San Diego Zoo that officials there say they would be in a serious bind if his services were no longer available. By their own acknowledgment, he is the zoo’s most trusted transporter, having done business with it for more than two decades.

“What happens if he (Tatum) dies?” asked James M. Dolan Jr., director of collections for the zoological society, who said he has known Tatum since the late 1960s and socializes with him at trade gatherings. “You can’t just put them (animals) anywhere. You can’t just rent a U-Haul.”

The brokers transport animals from zoo to zoo, as well as to breeding farms and other destinations.

“I think he’s an excellent animal handler and mover,” Dolan said. “He’s the most reliable one in the country.”

Apprised last week of Tatum’s regulatory problems, including the snow leopard case, Dolan said he was concerned but would have to review the situation personally.

Apart from transporting, Tatum and other brokers also purchase large numbers of the surplus animals, thus taking them off the zoos’ hands. When hauling from San Diego, Tatum is paid in animals, which he then sells to other buyers or takes to his facility in Arkansas for breeding or future sale. Carmi G. Penny, curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo, said last week that paying Tatum in cash instead of wildlife would exacerbate the zoo’s surplus dilemma.

“What would we do with the animals?” Penny responded when asked why Tatum wasn’t paid in dollars.

Along with transporting and receiving animals, zoo officials say, Tatum is an important supplier of wildlife, particularly males, which many zoos dispose of in favor of reproductive females. “He’s the most reliable person to go to if you need a male of this (species) or a male of that (species),” said Larry Killmar, curator of mammals at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Zoo officials depend largely on Tatum’s word as to the fate of many of the animals. The San Diego Zoo, like others, keeps no record of the ultimate desination of wildlife that is bartered, sold and donated to Tatum and others.

Developing such a tracking system “would be a tremendous use of human resources, into infinity,” said Charles M. Hoessle, director of the St. Louis Zoological Park.

But under current circumstances, experts say, surplus animals sold to dealers might end up most anywhere, particularly if the wildlife involved is not on the U.S protected list. Two surplus male chimpanzees purchased by Tatum for $8,000 in 1985 from the St. Louis zoo later ended up on the Century City set of “Project X,” a film about an Air Force pilot. Allegations later surfaced that those chimps and others were beaten on the set, but film officials and trainers denied any abuse.

At the time of the sale, Hoessle said, he assumed that Tatum would sell only to reputable buyers. “Mr. Tatum has a very good relationship with a lot of zoos across the country,” said Hoessle, who is also president of the American Assn. of Zoological Parks and Aquariums. The association is studying the transportation and animal surplus issue.

Critics say zoos should develop means to better manage their herds through breeding programs in order to minimize the surplus.

“Tatum is just doing his job; it’s the zoos’ fault,” said Sandra Keller, director of Citizens for a Better Zoo, a San Francisco animal advocacy group whose activism was essential in forcing that city’s zoo to sever relations with Tatum last year. “Tatum is doing what he has a legitimate right to do. It’s a fact that the ethics within zoos allow them to look the other way. . . . We have to understand that often zoos are consumers of wildlife, not protectors of animals.”

Tatum has permits from both the Departments of Interior and Agriculture to transport, sell and house endangered and other animals.

In 1982, federal documents show, he paid a $1,000 fine for not possessing the proper permit for his sale of two pygmy hippopotamuses and one white rhinoceros to a buyer in Mexico.

Last Sept. 25, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials sent Tatum a warning letter stating that his required annual reports during 1986, 1987 and 1988 had been both “incomplete and inaccurate” and that in 1986 he sold a Grevy’s zebra, a threatened species, to a Texan who was not authorized to receive the animal. The letter put Tatum on notice that his actions could jeopardize renewal of his permit, known formally as a captive-bred wildlife registration, and that any “future infringements” could result in revocation. (His two-year permit does not expire for another year.)

Last Monday, documents show, Tatum was fined $7,000 for the unlawful 1986 sale of the endangered snow leopard to Gary Lynn McGuire, owner of Noah’s Ark Exotic Animal Farm in Wylie, Tex. McGuire did not have the federal permit needed to receive the endangered animal, the government said.

In filings with the federal government, Tatum has consistently denied the charges, contending that the snow leopard was a gift and that the transaction was therefore legal. But the government found that Tatum “attempted to disguise the transaction as a donation in order to circumvent federal law.” The animal was seized, and is now at a Texas big-cat sanctuary. Tatum has 45 days to respond to the allegations.