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Government Lax On Zoo Deal
Published: September 21, 2008
Regarding “Crisis In Leadership Threatens Support For Lowry Park Zoo” (Our Opinion, Sept. 18):
We can all agree that Lex Salisbury’s actions were at best merely ignorant and at worst dishonest. Yes, he should have been more diligent, forthcoming and open about the decisions he made as president of the zoo and the resulting benefits to his private Safari Wild enterprise.
But where was city and county government oversight when these decisions were being made? As I understand it, there were representatives of both government entities sitting on the larger 38-member zoo board. Did they miss the meeting where the decision to displace the bison exhibit in favor of the installation of a water-plume ride was voted on? This is the same government that praised Mr. Salisbury for turning a raunchy Third World zoo into the number-one children’s zoo according to Parents magazine.
Before we sacrifice Lex Salisbury, let’s examine our local government and their poor performance on this one.
VERONICA KIRCHHEIMER
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Comment by Jeff Kremer on 21 September 2008:
Our compliments to the Tampa Tribune and St.Petersburg Times for continuing to empower the public regarding this important community as well as worldwide issue.
For those following the continuing evolution of truth, you’ll be most interested in the latest St.Petersburg Times article exposing the the intimate working relationship between Lowry Park Zoo, the Zoological Association of America (ZAA) and the exotic animal trade.
Visit our groups web effort for the link to this article.
Most recently Lowry Park Zoo has announced that Robert Merritt will be promoted to serve as the Zoo’s new “Executive Chairman”.
Mr. Merritt has stated that “He will improve communication with the full board by creating committees to oversee the annual financial audit of the zoo, look for potential conflicts of interest, evaluate the executive board members’ performance each year and evaluate the salaries of the zoo’s senior executives.”
The decision to put Mr. Merritt in charge of the Executive Board when in fact as an Executive Board member he has been intimately involved with the decisions that have led the zoo into these ethical conflicts should be of serious concern to Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and citizens alike.
As a life long resident of the Tampa Bay area I couldn’t be in more agreement that Lowry Park Zoo has significantly improved from the day’s in which it was rated one of the nations worst zoos.
However, Lowry Park Zoo has long touted itself as the #1 Family Friendly Zoo as rated by Child Magazine.
Let us not confuse #1 Family Friendly Zoo with #1 Zoo.
In regard to this survey there are serious concerns with regard to information supplied by Lowry Park Zoo officials in their response, such as:
The Zoo reported conducting 2 Code 1 (animal escape) drills per month. While policies might have changed, in the 4 years that I was employed with LPZ we only conducted these drills once a month.
The Zoo reported that they had 8 First Aide stations. In the 4 years that I was employed, the Zoo only had 3, if you counted the First Aide “box” in the Administration building.
The Zoo also responed in the survey that they provide “police” security during operating hours.
Again false: A significant peroid of my tenure at the Zoo was serving as an officer in the Security Department. The only time that we provided “police” was on 1 or 2 times a year during the zoo’s high end fundraisers.
Maybe someone should open an investigation into what other survey questions were answered in a false manner, preferably not Mr. Merritt.
Visit http://www.TampasZooAdvocates.com
Knowledge is Empowering
With warmest regards,
Jeff Kremer
Tampa’s Zoo Advocates
http://www.TampasZooAdvocates.com