Outgoing Zoo Director Blasts a Range of Critics : Griffith Park: He takes no blame for problems at the facility, which he says has been 'unjustifiably pilloried and persecuted.'

By JANE FRITSCH

Oct. 16, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

In a defiant speech to his superiors Monday, departing Los Angeles Zoo Director Warren D. Thomas lashed out at city officials, federal inspectors, the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., the press and critics, taking no responsibility for problems that prompted him to resign.

Thomas told the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission, which oversees the Griffith Park facility, that the zoo has been “unjustifiably pilloried and persecuted” over the last month.

“It does no good for them to sit down here at City Hall and call shots for us out in the trenches when they have no frame of reference,” Thomas said.

He added that alleged violations of the U.S. Animal Welfare Act cited at the zoo over more than three years “were basically minuscule” and questioned the expertise of the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors who had threatened legal action against the zoo.

Thomas, 59, resigned 10 days ago amid allegations of chronic deficiencies and fiscal improprieties at the zoo. Officials said he resigned because of damage to the zoo’s reputation and his own.

His resignation was announced just hours before City Controller Rick Tuttle released an audit that concluded Thomas had violated several City Charter provisions in his operation of a special fund into which he deposited $78,003 in city money without his superiors’ knowledge.

City officials had begun to examine Thomas’ management of the zoo last month, after The Times reported that the facility had been cited repeatedly by the Agriculture Department for more than three years. The citations listed such alleged violations as inadequate food storage, sanitation and drainage problems, pest and rodent contamination, inadequate housing and run-down animal barns.

The Times also reported that Thomas did not reply to a letter sent by the Agriculture Department nearly a year ago demanding an immediate response to the list of allegations.

In his remarks Monday, Thomas said The Times account was “a sensationalized story which was calculated to scandalize and damage.”

“It is incredible to me that these charges were made and printed in the paper and virtually no one visited the zoo or asked the zoo staff to explain exactly what these charges meant, their importance and what caused them,” he said.

Craig Turner, metropolitan editor of The Times, replied: “The Times’ articles on the zoo situation were carefully researched and balanced. Moreover, the reporter sought and received comment from city officials, including Mr. Thomas himself, on all criticism leveled at the zoo.”

Thomas seemed to reserve his sharpest criticism for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., the nonprofit organization that raises funds for and helps run the zoo.

Thomas accused the association of meddling in the operation of the zoo and said it has “never understood (its) role as a support group.”

“Their aim has always been to protect themselves and their reputation--often at the city’s expense--with the ultimate goal of finally taking over the zoo,” he said.

The association should stop trying to “micro-manage” the zoo, he said, and instead concentrate on raising funds and operating the concession stands.

He accused zoo association members of “promoting their own egocentric aggrandizement in the community,” but did not specify in what manner this was done.

During the session, the commission listened to Thomas’ speech and did not attempt to ask questions. When he left, Thomas refused to answer a reporter’s questions about the allegations.

Thomas R. Tellefsen, chairman of the zoo association’s executive committee, said Monday that Thomas’ accusations “really have nothing to do with the matter at hand, which is that he did not deal with an issue that arose in the manner that he should have.”

Tellefsen added that the remarks indicate that the next few months will be a difficult period for the management of the zoo because Thomas will remain in charge until January.

“I would have hoped or thought there would have been a lot more sensitivity to the morale of the zoo staff and of the (zoo association’s) staff,” he said.

Regarding the special fund he established, called the Zoo Emergency Fund, Thomas said during his speech that it was made necessary by the city’s “inefficient” bureaucracy, which could not react quickly enough to his requests for money for zoo projects.

“Had there been effective financial procedures set up for handling everyday crises . . . there would have been no need for the Zoo Emergency Fund,” he said. “Whether right or wrong,” he added, “the Zoo Emergency Fund was set up to deal expeditiously with a spectrum of things.”

According to the city controller’s audit, Thomas established the fund with the zoo association in 1987 with money collected from companies that paid fees for use of the zoo grounds. The money should have gone to the city treasury, the audit said. Less than half of the money was spent, most of it apparently for equipment and other zoo expenses.

However, the auditors questioned a $17,000 advance Thomas took to pay for a trip to Ethiopia this year and city officials said Monday they may attempt to recover some of the money. Zoo association officials have said that, until June, they believed city officials had authorized the account.