Embattled L.A. Zoo Chief Quits : Thomas Retires Amid Charges of Mismanagement

Los Angeles Zoo Director Warren Thomas, who replenished animal collections and renovated exhibits at the Griffith Park zoo only to see his 16-year tenure repeatedly marred by administrative controversies, announced today that he was retiring from his post.

Thomas, 59, gave no immediate reason for his decision. Mayor Tom Bradley said that Thomas’ retirement was voluntary.

The zoo director had been targeted by an investigation by city auditors and embattled by federal inspectors’ reports that animals had been living in filth and substandard conditions.

Sheldon Jensen, assistant general manager of the Department of Recreation and Parks, said Thomas believed that “the recent developments at the zoo . . . denigrated himself and the zoo and he felt the need to retire.”

Jensen said Thomas’ retirement was accepted “with some concern and sadness. He built one of the greatest animal collections . . . in the world.” No plans have been made for a replacement, but a decision will be made “in the very near future,” Jensen said.

In a brief press statement, the zoo director said: “I will leave with a variety of emotions, one of which will be, of course, sadness.”

Jensen said Thomas’ retirement “closes the books” on his turbulent tenure at the zoo. But City Councilman Joel Wachs disagreed, vowing to hold public hearings on allegations of financial irregularities.

City auditors are investigating Thomas’ use of a bank account that sources told The Times was set and controlled by him without the knowledge of his superiors. The account was established with miscellaneous fees that film companies and other firms paid for using the zoo.

Allegations about the bank account surfaced as Thomas was defending the zoo from criticism by federal Department of Agriculture inspectors about the animals’ “unheard of” living conditions. The department cited the zoo for more than three years of chronic health violations.

Inspectors who combed zoo grounds last July found rodents jumping out of feed bags, gorillas living in inadequately ventilated barns, sanitation and drainage problems and toxic substances stored with food and medicine.

Thomas and other city officials said that most of the conditions had since been remedied.

Thomas, a zoologist and veterinarian who ran city zoos in Oklahoma City and Omaha, was named in May, 1974, to take over the Los Angeles zoo. The facility had been beset by reports of poor conditions and called a “graveyard” by one city panel after the deaths of several animals.

In 1983, he was accused of mishandling the disappearance of 200 ivory pieces entrusted to the zoo, then later cleared by a country grand jury.

In June, 1986, Thomas was fired by the city for problems with his purchase and sale of animals and for his alleged use of ethnic slurs against zoo employees. Thomas appealed the action and in December, 1987, he was reinstated by a federal judge who ruled that his civil rights had been violated.