Protests Stall Expansion of Zoo Medical Facilities

Caesar, a 20-year-old male gorilla, returned to his exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo on Thursday, but his near-death after surgery had zoo veterinarians urging the construction of new medical care facilities.

The zoo has the money to build the $10.5-million project. But it has been stymied by the Sierra Club and equestrian groups, who say the plan would take too much of a popular slice of Griffith Park.

The call for larger medical pens and special bays comes 18 months after the zoo’s accreditation was postponed by the American Zoo and Aquarium Assn.

One of the factors that left the zoo temporarily unaccredited was the 1992 death of Hannibal, an African bull elephant who stopped breathing after being sedated and placed in a crate for shipment.

On Feb. 22, Caesar nearly lost his life under similar circumstances.

A team headed by zoo veterinarian Cynthia Stringfield removed a benign tumor from his salivary gland. But the anesthetized, 550-pound silverback gorilla stopped breathing while being transported to his exhibit pen in an open, flatbed truck equipped with a hydraulic lift.

Rushed back to the health center, he was revived in 10 minutes with the help of a respirator.

Zoo veterinarians say that if they had larger pens they would not have to sedate massive animals when they transport them back and forth from the hospital. This is now required because existing pens are 8 feet by 12 feet.

A new hospital, with special bays capable of connecting to the large pens, broader operating tables and updated equipment is also needed, veterinarians say.

Two platforms designed to hold dog-sized animals were rigged together as a makeshift operating table for Caesar in an unsterile operating room built to animal care standards of the mid-1960s.

Proposition A, passed by city voters in 1990, allocated $23 million for zoo improvements. The zoo has spent $8.3 million so far.

But zoo officials’ insistence that they must expand cramped grounds in order to make way for the hospital has drawn opposition.

The officials say they must expand into eight acres of the park along part of the zoo’s western boundary. The larger grounds would jut into Mineral Wells, a popular portion of Griffith Park used by hikers and riders.

Opponents say they support more advanced treatment of the animals but contend that the proposed 27,000-square-foot facility, complete with animal feeding areas, could be scaled down or placed within existing grounds.

“No one disagrees that the zoo should have the ability to care for its animals better, said Ron Brusha, a member of the Sierra Club, which has allied with equestrian groups at the park. “It’s a question of how they build [an animal hospital] and where they put it.”

The zoo’s problems began in the 1980s when federal inspectors cited inadequate food storage, poor sanitation, drainage problems, vermin infestations and substandard housing for animals.

The problems were exacerbated by declining attendance. But the zoo’s shortcomings did not attract the concern of local officials until February 1995, when a panel of experts from other cities concluded that conditions were so bad they threatened the health of animals.

Later that year, the zoo’s accreditation was postponed, jeopardizing its ability to acquire and trade animals and preventing it from receiving some grants.

In reaction to the official snubbing, the zoo was removed from city Department of Parks and Recreation jurisdiction and an independent Zoo Department was created.