New Zoo Management Agency Urged

City staffers are recommending stripping the Recreation and Parks Department of its authority to run the troubled Los Angeles Zoo and creating a new Zoo Department.

“Various reports have detailed the problems existing at the zoo, citing conflicts of authority . . . and the need for a cohesive and cooperating working relationship among all the entities involved in the zoo,” City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie and Chief Legislative Analyst Ronald F. Deaton wrote in a letter this week to the City Council.

These problems--which have included substandard habitats and sanitation, dwindling attendance and squabbling among zoo staff, management and governing authorities--were highlighted last month in a report from three outside experts who studied the zoo.

“This is an institution permeated by mistrust, skepticism and cynicism,” the zoo directors from Denver, Louisville and San Antonio reported. “In view of the Los Angeles Zoo’s history, there is no reason to expect that the zoo will not be allowed to slide downward unless its governance structure is significantly altered.”

Comrie and Deaton said “conflicts of authority” and “tension” between city officials and the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn.--a nonprofit organization established to assist in the development and operation of the zoo--have contributed to the problems.

The American Zoo & Aquarium Assn. has given the zoo until next summer to fix the dozens of deficiencies outlined in the report or face loss of accreditation.

In their recommendations for a new Zoo Department, Comrie and Deaton called for establishment of a five-member zoo advisory board and creation of a general manager’s position.

Their letter did not include estimates of how much staff or expense would be involved in such a department.