The Horror of Hannibal’s Death : Snake-bitten L.A. Zoo has yet another cloud over its head

It’s a tough time for local zoos. In San Diego, controversial elephant-training procedures are being debated and recast; here in Los Angeles, the new zoo director is facing his first crisis after last week’s death of a beloved African bull elephant named Hannibal.

In part, the Angst about zoo animals in Los Angeles centers on the terrible way Hannibal died--drugged and trapped in a shipping crate before being moved to another zoo in Mexico.

The concern also arises from the long controversy that preceded the attempted relocation: Some animal experts questioned whether Hannibal could safely be moved at all.

And all of it is coming to a head because of the zoo’s worrisome history of elephant deaths--Hannibal is the third pachyderm to die there in the last decade.

The final decision to move Hannibal was made by a newly hired zoo director, Mark Goldstein. He was brought here from Boston in the hopes he could clean up the mess left by a predecessor, Warren Thomas, whose tenure was marked by allegations of mismanagement, financial irregularities and mistreatment of animals.

Goldstein’s worst enemy could not have wished him a more inauspicious start. Already some animal-rights activists are calling for the closure of the local zoo, saying that Hannibal’s death is the last straw in “a long, sad history in their treatment of animals.” That is clearly an extreme position, but even animal experts sympathetic to the zoo’s plight in trying to move Hannibal are questioning the way it was done.

That’s why Mayor Tom Bradley and the City Council must now organize an independent investigation of this tragedy. They must explain to a concerned public--which, by and large, loves animals and wants the city’s zoo to be run humanely--how and why Hannibal died, and how similar tragedies can be prevented in the future.

An independent probe could prevent Goldstein’s new administration from being tainted before the new zoo director has had a fair chance to establish himself here. It could also look into much bigger questions, including whether the Los Angeles Zoo should even have elephants, and, if so, how best to handle them.

Hannibal’s death was sad and unfortunate. Whether it was preventable is a tougher call and requires both dispassionate and careful study.