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San Francisco supervisors press zoo for safety fixes, peer review and financial audit after tiger escape
Summary
After a tiger escaped and was shot on Dec. 25, the Recreation & Parks Department and Zoological Society told supervisors they—ve started emergency repairs, ordered a national peer review of zoo operations and sought a controller—s audit of the Society—s finances; the committee continued oversight pending the review—s public report.
A San Francisco Board of Supervisors committee on Friday pressed city agencies and the Zoological Society to accelerate safety fixes, produce a public peer-review of operations and open the Society—s finances to audit following the Dec. 25 tiger escape that left a visitor and a tiger dead.
Chair Sean Ellsburn convened the Government Audit and Oversight Committee hearing after the Recreation and Park Department confirmed it had issued an emergency order on Dec. 26 to hire contractors and consultants to fortify the zoo—s felid enclosures and improve security.
The department—s general manager, Yomi Agunbiade, told the panel the department—s immediate plan is to raise the concrete moat walls at the Lion and Tiger Grottoes to meet Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) minimum height standards (16 feet 4 inches), add glass viewing areas and wire mesh elsewhere, install physical and electronic deterrents such as hot-wire sections, and stage additional cameras and command-post access for first responders. Agunbiade estimated the near-term retrofit of all four grottoes at about $1 million and said…
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