Parks Officials Say Zoo Can Rejoin Rhino Trust

Reversing action taken by the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., city parks officials have voted to let the Los Angeles Zoo rejoin the Sumatran Rhino Trust--a coalition of American zoos that is attempting to save the rare Asian rhinoceros from extinction.

The association abruptly withdrew the zoo from the 9-year-old campaign late last year after deciding the program was unsuccessful and too costly. Conservationists protested that $400,000 had already been spent and that Los Angeles was on the verge of obtaining its own Sumatran rhino as part of the program.

Recreation and Parks commissioners have agreed to allocate $280,000 from a special animal acquisition fund to rejoin the trust through 1992, acting zoo Director Jerry Greenwalt said Wednesday. He said a female Sumatran rhino will arrive in Los Angeles by October.