Deplorable Conditions at Los Angeles Zoo

The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. believes The Times was right on target in its editorial (“Wanted: A Zoo, Not a Pigsty,” Sept. 15) calling for a fresh approach to the management of the zoo. This seems a viable solution to the chronic problems of the sort that came to light and will continue to plague the zoo operations under the current administrative setup.

Our organization, a nonprofit association made up of some 135,000 volunteers and an administrative staff of 47 professionals, also supports Mayor Tom Bradley and Councilmen John Ferraro and Joel Wachs in their demands for an investigation.

GLAZA, which is responsible for the zoo’s animal acquisitions, fund-raising, concessions, membership, capital improvement projects, and conservation, educational and public support programs, has been frustrated for some time by the arrangement under which the zoo is now run. Under the city’s current system, coordination between GLAZA, the zoo director and the city’s Recreation and Parks Department, which oversees the zoo’s housekeeping functions, is very difficult. This dissipates the strength and frustrates the goals of all concerned.

We have thoroughly researched and long advocated an approach such as The Times suggests, with management “transferred from Recreation and Parks to a private nonprofit zoological society like the one that runs the Bronx Zoo in New York and the San Diego Zoo.”

The great zoos of the world today are vastly different from their counterparts of a generation ago. Animals are treated more humanely and with greater regard for their needs. They are housed in habitats more closely resembling their natural state. The emphasis is less on entertainment and more on informing people about their world and natural environment in ways no book or classroom can.

THOMAS R. TELLEFSEN

Chairman, GLAZA Board of Trustees