The Anti-Zoo Propaganda Continues - What Our Zoo Board and The City Need To Do

Well, this is my Zoo day, and I've been moved to write this post.  The Zoo opens in twenty minutes and I'm still in bed.  Our Lions deserve this delay in my plans.  I will see them soon.

The In Defense Of Animals post has set-off an onslaught of posts by Animal pages and individuals on social media sites, who have grabbed this and ran with it.  While it irked me to keep seeing this over and over the last two days, it was this one I just saw, that got my tears flowing.

Maybe it was because I read the comments, maybe and more likely it's because I'm fed up with the bullshit that has led to this situation.  It has hurt my soul that Jasiri and Lulu are even in this position, and now seeing this photo (which is actually of Jasiri and his Mama Sukari), splashed all over social media, is making me physically sick.  

Reading judgemental comments from Anti-Zoo people who know nothing about these Lions saddens me.

This whole thing is because Our Zoo was left to squander under the mismanagement and negligence of the San Francisco Zoological Society Board and the (former) CEO/Director Tanya Peterson.  

The Board and Tanya treated Our Zoo like it was their own private club for at least the eighteen years that Peterson was at the helm.  Neither entity made any moves at major fundraising, and never planned for the needs of Our Animals who might need enclosure upgrades due to physical aging, like currently with Our Lions, or in the past due to aging enclosures themselves, like with Our Chimpanzees in 2015.

It was only due to public outrage that Our Chimps got a new home built at Our Zoo.  The Board and Tanya were just fine with sending senior Chimpanzees who lived at Our Zoo for near fifty years, packing from the only home they had ever known.  

This whole thing has also been caused by The City's lack of oversight of a facility it owns, and perpetual negligence to provide Our Zoo that bears it's name, with a Cost of Living increase to the annual management fee.  

There is no way a $4 million a year fee that was instituted thirty-three years ago, would have buying value as the years went on, especially in this town.  Once tech moved in and prices started to skyrocket, that should have signaled a change needed to happen.  Yet nothing changed.  Our Zoo continued on the next twenty-six years barely getting by, and NO ONE CARED.  

Financial breakdown of how the $4 million is distributed, shows most of it gets kicked back to The City.  How is this right?  How is this expected to sustain even basic needs?  

The Lease Agreement from 1993 essentially notes that the Zoological Society will cover all costs of running the Zoo.  For the purpose of this situation, that includes all upgrades to Animal enclosures and new builds.  How is that even possible?  Even with Board Member donations and major Fundraising, there would need to be additional money coming in.

I personally think there's a loophole regarding The City's responsibility to all existing buildings (mostly the WPA era ones) at the time of the lease signing, but I haven't investigated that any further.  

Back to how this affects the current situation.  Our Lions are set to transfer out because bottom line, there is no money to fund a new enclosure for them at Our Zoo.  That is regardless of future aging needs.  The Big Cat yards attached to the Lion House, are slated to be used for Pandas.  

This is not right.  

So, how does this wrong become right?

If The Board and The City are supporting bring in Pandas, they need to support providing for Our Lions on Zoo property.  That means building them a new enclosure.

As I've illustrated, this situation is the direct negligence of the San Francisco Zoological Society Board, and the City of San Francisco.  There is no way to go back in time and rewrite a history that has these entities show Our Zoo the care it needed to thrive into the future to this point in time.  BUT, these entities can do the right thing now.

The San Francisco Zoological Society Board, and the City of San Francisco, need to pony-up, and fund Our Lions a new enclosure on Zoo property.

This is what was originally outlined when news broke of the Lion House being used for Pandas.  

Considering if Our Zoo had been given the Cost of Living increases from 1993 to now, the current management fee would be $9.44 million.  The City has gotten away with basically withholding well over $80 million that could have greatly helped Our Zoo and greatly prevented the position it's now in.  

The position Our Lions are now in.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

> Previous Post:

Anti-Zoo Zealots Use Our Lions To Solicit Donations

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2026/09/anti-zoo-zealots-use-our-lions-to.html

> Related Posts:  Use Search tool in upper left corner, keyword  "Lions"

> Comments:  Note that Anonymous Comments are accepted.  I moderate all comments before publishing.  If you are using this form for a non-publish correspondence, please note "Personal" on it.  Thank you for your participation and/or feedback.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Blogger's Statement

"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

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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  , #SanFranciscoZooCEODirectorCassandraCostello , #FormerSanFranciscoZooDirectorTanyaPeterson , #SanFranciscoRecreationAndParksDept , #FormerSanFranciscoMayorLondonBreed , #SanFranciscoMayorDanielLurie , #AssociationOfZoosAndAquariums , #AZA , #SpeciesSurvivalPlan , #SSP , #Animals , #Wildlife , #Nature , #AnimalWelfare , #AnimalCruelty , #AndeanBear , #KomodoDragon , #Chimpanzees ,  #PatasMonkey , #Fossa , #Orangutans , #Barriers , #PerimeterFence , #Pandas , #Bison ,  #Gorillas ,  #Lemurs , #Lions