I was invited to be included in a letter writing effort in Support of Tanya Peterson's Removal as Director of Our Zoo. I am grateful to be given the opportunity for my voice to be heard in a direct line to the Zoo Board.
I just finished and sent my letter. Now we wait.
Like my posts, my Letter got alittle lengthy, so I separated it into two parts, the main part pertaining to Tuesday's Board Vote, and some Animal Welfare Issues that I felt should be included. I could never make full list of all Tanya Peterson's Offenses, for the purpose of a letter or just one blog post. So I included half a dozen that first came to mind. Much like many of my most recent posts that I have rehashed key issues to illustrate Peterson's mass mismanagement, it was a similar endeavor.
It's still early in the day, I had thought to continue on and finish the last post in my Orangutan/Panda Outrage series, but considering what's going on, I might wait til next weekend. We'll see. What I will do is post those Issues from my letter, as I had planned at some point in the near future to do a short illustration for anyone coming late to the party.
--- Some of the Animal Welfare Issues allowed to happen under Tanya Peterson's Directorship.
*2010 Andean Bears ... Both lived exclusively on concrete. The female passed away in-part due to mobility issues stemming from living on concrete. The male had a seizure in front of me that was disregarded as such. He then had another similar issue that left him unable to walk. I was told by a Keeper it was known his bones were breaking down for years due to living on concrete. He lost his life because he couldn't walk. He was otherwise healthy. I personally crusaded for soft surfaces to be added to his enclosure. Even contacting Board Members. No one cared.
*2013 Komodo Dragon ... A male was acquired, one of Tanya's shiny new toys welcomed with fan-fare, then ignored. He lived in a terrarium for five years. When he arrived he was supposed to get a new home built within year and a half. I was told Tanya vetoed every design, saying too expensive. Komodo out-grew the terrarium to the point that he couldn't access night quarters, or turn around. A bump grew at the base of his tail, that was not attended to for six months, at which point it was four inches off his body. When he finally had surgery, it was diagnosed as genetic, yet the Zoo he came from that breeds Komodos told me there were no others that had that condition. I suspect his bones did not grow properly due to cramped quarters. I was also told that allegedly he was dropped.
*2015 Chimpanzees ... Board Members should be familiar with their story. 1997 City Bond money delegated for their new home, was misappropriated and no fundraising done to replace it. 2014 after the loss of one female the year before, Tanya decides to kick-out Chimps, seniors who had lived at the Zoo over forty-five years. I crusaded for them, saving them with the help of a news story that created public outrage.
*2018 Squirrel Monkeys ... Group of twenty retired from laboratory experiments, arrived in 2010, with a donation of $250,000 for a retirement home to be built for them. They were initially housed in an enclosure in the Primate Discovery Center. After PDC was torn down for the disaster that is the Madagascar exhibit, the Squirrel Monkeys were housed in various locations, some transferred out. At which time I saw that one group was being kept in a concrete room with one window and no outside access. I was told they had been there 2-4 years. They never got that home built, and no one seems to know what happened to that $250,000.
*2018 Fossa ... Acquired without a dedicated enclosure. The Fossa lived in the hospital almost a year, before being moved to rusted old cages that hadn't been used in who knows how long. They stayed there too long, before being moved to FCC, where at the very least they should have gone to begin with. The Fossa enclosure built as part of the Madagascar exhibit finally opened in 2023. The female was moved there. The male remains at FCC, no room for them both in this ridiculously designed enclosure.
*2019 Orangutans ... Acquired without a dedicated enclosure. The Zoo the male came from told me they were told a new enclosure was being built for them. Another one of Tanya Peterson's illusions. She allegedly passed off the enclosure being built for Chimpanzees, as also being used for Orangutans. No one questioned it. So, the Orangutans lived here two years without a dedicated home, eight months of that time exclusively in the caged tubes of the skytrail. IN cages!!! In 2021 they were finally let into the Chimps old home, that was deemed by the AZA as outdated, with no renovation for them. They have languished there on tiny concrete islands for four years with no new home being built for them in sight.
BUT, Hey, let's bring in Pandas for Millions of Dollars.
Tanya Peterson should have been fired for her treatment of the Orangutans alone. Unfortunately she has remained there six additional years. Let's all hope the vote is successful and we see the end to this seventeen year disgrace.
Related Post:
*Director Tanya Peterson - Will She Stay Or Will She Go?
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2025/05/director-tanya-peterson-will-she-stay.html
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"Personal Opinions and Facts presented publicly are Not against the law or any rules. ... Censorship and Retaliation Actions in an attempt at Suppression are frowned upon by Healthy Societies."
For Full Statement see this post:
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-zoo-status.html
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I used to use (search) labels, but too often forget. I started noting "Hot Topic" in title, but fell lax on that. Now I'm just going to add labels, keywords, etc., here at the bottom with hashtags. Does it help in searches, who knows.
#SanFrancisco , #SanFranciscoZoo , #Zoos #SanFranciscoZoologicalSociety , #SanFranciscoZooDirectorTanyaPeterson , #SanFranciscoRecreationAndParksDept , #SanFranciscoMayorLondonBreed ,
#SanFranciscoMayorDanielLurie
#AssociationOfZoosAndAquariums , #AZA , #SpeciesSurvivalPlan , #SSP , #Animals , #Wildlife , #Nature , #AnimalWelfare , #AnimalCruelty , #AndeanBear , #KomodoDragon , #Chimpanzees , #PatasMonkey , #Fossa , #Orangutans , #Barriers , #PerimeterFence, #Pandas #Bison
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*You can be a Voice for Our San Francisco Zoo Animals by Contacting ...
*San Francisco Zoo Director Tanya Peterson herself, at tanyap@sfzoo.org
... Unfortunately she has proven to not care what anyone thinks, but it might make you feel better.
... More people who don't care that you can contact are ...
*San Francisco Recreation and Park Commissioners at recpark.commission@sfgov.org ...
*San Francisco Mayor Lurie at daniel.lurie@sfgov.org
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