L.A. Zoo Chief Abruptly Quits During Probe

Los Angeles Zoo Director Warren D. Thomas abruptly resigned Friday, his 16-year tenure ending amid allegations of chronic deficiencies and fiscal improprieties at the Griffith Park facility.

Announcement of the resignation came just hours before City Controller Rick Tuttle released an audit that concluded that Thomas had violated several provisions of the City Charter in his operation of a special fund into which he deposited $78,003 in city money without the knowledge of his superiors.

Thomas, 59, will leave his $83,000-a-year post in January, and receive no special benefits, Mayor Tom Bradley said at a news conference. Bradley said the early retirement was voluntary. Thomas was not available for comment.

Thomas has been credited with spearheading efforts that have brought the Los Angeles Zoo a large and varied collection of exotic and endangered wildlife, but management problems have plagued his administration in recent years.

For the last month, the zoo director has been under investigation by the Department of Recreation and Parks, which oversees the facility, because of alleged violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act that investigators said went uncorrected for years.

City officials also have been examining the special account, called the Zoo Emergency Fund, which Thomas created in 1987 and which he alone controlled.

The money in the account originated as donations and as fees from film studios, television networks and other businesses that used the zoo for filming and promotions. The money should have been deposited with the city, the audit concluded. Instead, Thomas “diverted” it to an account he had established with the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., a private, nonprofit organization that helps run the zoo, according to the audit.

Thomas apparently used some of the money to purchase equipment for the zoo, but auditors could find no documentation for expenditures totaling $2,344. The audit also requested that Thomas return $1,878 in unspent travel advance money that he had not replaced in the account.

Bradley and Recreation and Parks Department officials were circumspect about the controversies, declining to comment on Thomas’ performance or answer questions about the fund.

“As far as we’re concerned, Dr. Thomas is retiring and that closes all the books on any issues,” said Sheldon Jensen, assistant general manager of the Recreation and Parks Department. It was not clear whether, in light of the new audit, the department might proceed with reported disciplinary measures against Thomas.

Thomas decided to step down, Jensen said, because he was “very concerned” about damage to the zoo’s reputation.

“He felt that because of the recent difficulties . . . the Los Angeles Zoo was attaining a reputation that was denigrating that fine institution, both the institution and himself,” Jensen said.

Jensen credited Thomas with building one of the greatest animal collections in the United States, if not in the world. Thomas has also worked on projects to save endangered species and reintroduce captive species to the wild, Jensen said.

Attendance at the zoo grew dramatically during Thomas’ tenure and the facility has become one of the city’s biggest tourist attractions. Last year, 2 million people visited the zoo and 50,000 individuals and families bought memberships in the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn.

The department will not immediately seek a replacement for Thomas, Jensen said, but will instead undertake a study aimed at reorganizing the zoo and possibly turning its operation over to a nonprofit zoological society, similar to the group that operates the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park.

The resignation was accepted “with a certain amount of concern and sadness,” Jensen added, “because Warren Thomas, although he has been in the press lately in a negative sense, has provided a great amount for the zoo.”

Thomas’ retirement brings to an end a turbulent era for the 26-year-old institution. A gregarious man who is sometimes described as charismatic, Thomas also is seen by some current and former associates as arrogant.

In an interview last month, Thomas referred to critics at the Humane Society of the United States as unqualified “Joe Blows off the street” and said that federal zoo inspectors did not understand how zoos are run.

City officials had attempted to fire him in 1986, but he sued and was reinstated the following year by a federal judge, who ruled that his rights had been violated. At the time, the officials cited a number of problems with the purchase and sale of animals as well as Thomas’ alleged use of racial and ethnic epithets when speaking about zoo employees. They also alleged that Thomas took zoo supplies for his personal use.

The recent controversy began last month after The Times reported that the zoo had been cited repeatedly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture over more than three years for inadequate food storage, sanitation and drainage problems, pest and rodent contamination, inadequate housing, run-down animal barns and other alleged violations.

Nearly a year ago, the USDA sent a certified letter to Thomas demanding an immediate response to a lengthy list of violations, but did not get a response.

At one point, USDA officials said, they considered closing the facility. William DeHaven, a USDA official in Sacramento, said Friday that the zoo has made substantial progress since it reached a low point in July and is no longer in danger of being shut.

City Councilman Joel Wachs, who has been holding hearings on the zoo, said he would continue to press for a full explanation of the USDA violations and the zoo emergency account. “We’re not sweeping this under the rug,” he said.

John W. Grandy, a vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, said it was hoped that Thomas’ departure would “usher in a new and a better day for the future of the zoo.” He said the city should appoint a blue-ribbon committee to restore public confidence in the zoo.

Thomas will remain on the job assisting city officials in reorganizing the zoo structure before he leaves in January, according to Jensen.

Thomas R. Tellefsen, chairman of Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn.’s executive committee, voiced concern that Thomas is staying on.

“I think this is going to be a very difficult situation with Warren continuing in his role during that time,” he said.

According to the audit released Friday, the zoo association owes the city the $78,003 it held in the account for Thomas. However, the audit said, that amount might be lowered if the Board of Recreation and Parks approves some expenditures made by Thomas.

Thomas’ purchase of equipment with the money violates the City Charter because such purchases must be made through the city purchasing agent, the audit said.

The audit also criticized Thomas’ use of money from the fund to pay for a trip to Ethiopia this year. In requesting leave time for the trip, Thomas told his supervisor that the association would pay for it. In fact, however, the association’s board had rejected the trip in 1989, the audit said. In the end, Thomas took an advance for the trip from the Zoo Emergency Fund.

Tellefsen said zoo association officials will meet with the city on the matter and would repay any money due.

BUSINESS AS USUAL AT ZOO--Director’s resignation has little impact on animals, visitors.B1