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See article below. While this is welcome news, it means we have to be
even more vigilant now.
This could be a move on the part of the SF Zoological Society to let
the resigning director take the blame for the Zoo's problems on his own
shoulders as he leaves, giving them the chance to fly in under the
radar and get approved for a new long term contract with the City;
which would be a travesty.
We must keep foremost in our mind and work that the SF Zoological
Society is the real problem, and we must continue to demand that its
management of, and fundraising for, the facility must end as rapidly as
possible.
<br>
<br>
peace
Eric
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/06/BACT114U8M.DTL&type=printable">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/06/BACT114U8M.DTL&type=printable</a><br>
<h1>Beleaguered S.F. Zoo director quits</h1>
<p class="byline"><a href="mailto:rgordon@sfchronicle.com">Rachel
Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer</a></p>
<p class="date">Friday, June 6, 2008</p>
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<p><strong>(06-06) 17:47 PDT San Francisco -</strong> --
</p>
<p>Manuel Mollinedo, the executive director of the San Francisco Zoo,
has resigned, officials announced late today. </p>
<p>The announcement, issued nearly six months after a zoo tiger escaped
on Christmas Day and killed a San Jose teenager, comes amid high zoo
employee turnover and what some keepers described as abysmal morale.</p>
<p>The San Francisco Zoological Society, the nonprofit that oversees
zoo operations, issued a statement at 5:20 p.m. today.Tanya McVeigh
Peterson, a lawyer who serves on the zoo society board, has been
appointed interim director.</p>
<p>In addition, Carl Friedman, head of the San Francisco Department of
Animal Care and Control, will be temporarily assigned to the zoo to
help with animal welfare and management issues, sources told The
Chronicle.</p>
<p>Mollinedo became director of the 100-acre facility in February 2004
after running the Los Angeles Zoo for eight years.</p>
<p>The San Francisco Zoological Society provided no details on what led
to Mollinedo's departure, other than that he plans to retire in the Bay
Area and will stay active in his support of the zoo. </p>
<p>"The board greatly appreciates his efforts and wishes him well in
his retirement," the statement said.</p>
<p>Word of an impending shake-up began to leak Thursday afternoon when
the zoo society's board of directors held a closed-door meeting. A
staff meeting at the zoo was called for this morning, but was abruptly
canceled right before it was to begin, several zoo workers told The
Chronicle. </p>
<p>Mollinedo and other zoo officials did not return repeated requests
for comment throughout the day, and instead opted to issue a news
release at the close of the business week, a time often picked by
politicians and institutions to bury potentially unfavorable news.</p>
<p>Mollinedo was picked to head the San Francisco Zoo after a nearly
six-month, nationwide search. He beat out 100 candidates and eight
finalists for the position of executive director and president. </p>
<p><i>E-mail Rachel Gordon at <a href="mailto:rgordon@sfchronicle.com">rgordon@sfchronicle.com</a>.</i>
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<p id="url"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/06/BACT114U8M.DTL">http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/06/BACT114U8M.DTL</a></p>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara</pre>
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