Deplorable Conditions at Los Angeles Zoo

While reading “Clean Up Act, L.A. Zoo Told” (Part B, Sept. 13), I experienced deja vu . I truly thought I was seeing another article about a slumlord.

The animals at the zoo are unable to complain. They, as “tenants,” have had their rights violated. We have taken them out of their natural environments and caged them for our enjoyment. We have entrusted their care to Warren Thomas, zoo director, who should have been aware when these slovenly conditions started to appear and should never have let them continue. Instead, he is passing the buck by blaming “middle-level employees for failing to inform him” of the problems. Everyone is to blame.

Some slumlords have had fines imposed on them and were sentenced to live in the hovels they allowed their tenants to exist in. Perhaps Thomas, besides paying the fines, should reside for at least a week in one of the, and I quote the Humane Society, “deplorably barren and sadly outdated compounds.” His meals should be some of the food that was stored improperly.

LINDA S. SIRLIN

North Hollywood