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USDA inspects Topeka Zoo again for violations - KSN TV, Kansas News and Weather

USDA inspects Topeka Zoo again for violations

Last Update: 6/11 9:37 am

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) - The federal government sent inspectors to the Topeka Zoo this week to investigate what it calls the zoo's repeat violations of animal care laws.

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture were at the zoo Tuesday and Wednesday.

USDA spokesman David Sacks says the investigation was prompted by repeat and direct violations of the Animal Welfare Act in the last year.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that zoo director Brendan Wiley says investigators looked at reports from 2006 to the present and sought documents showing how the zoo reacted to previous problems.

Wiley became director of the zoo after the USDA criticized it for numerous animal deaths, its professional accreditation was tabled and most of its management left or were fired.

He says no new incidents at the zoo triggered the latest investigation.
 
Brookfield Loans the Zoo Three African Wild Dogs:

FOTZ members to get sneak peek of wild dogs | CJOnline.com

Friends of the Topeka Zoo on Friday night will get a sneak peek of the zoo’s three new African wild dogs on loan from the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.

Friday night is FOTZ Membership Appreciation Night at the zoo, said Kate Larison, FOTZ executive director.

The male African wild dogs arrived at the Topeka Zoo on Monday, Larison said. They are 10 months old.

Friday’s event, which runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m., will include food, musical entertainment, giraffe feeding, painting with elephants, bubbles with the orangutans, a reptile show and more.

Although the event is for FOTZ members only, anyone who wants to purchase a membership can do so and attend, Larison said.

“We are running a membership blitz,” she said.

From 5:30 to 8 p.m., the annual family FOTZ membership will be $30. The price is usually $50, Larison said.

“We’re doing that to bring new members to our zoo family,” Larison said. “It’s important we get as many members as we can because those membership dollars go back to benefit the Topeka Zoo.”
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Here is a photograph of the exhibit shortly before opening:
http://www.zoochat.com/1064/topeka-zoo-2011-future-african-wild-231037/
 
How long before Topeka Zoo has zero elephants? The zoo has been under pressure to get rid of its two elephants (one Asian and one African) for years, and so I'm sure that it is simply a matter of time before they are transferred to another facility. It might take another two years but the zoo has no funding for a new exhibit and I'd be flabbergasted if the zoo still had elephants a few years from now.

Poll: Emails advocate move of zoo elephants | CJOnline.com
 
The first rainforest building in any American zoo, built in 1974, is currently in the middle of a 6-7 month revitalization. The interesting article on the link discusses in detail the plans for the overhaul of the famous structure, and also mentions that the zoo will finally make a decision this spring on whether or not to keep its elephants.

Work progresses on zoo's Tropical Rain Forest | CJOnline.com
 
Topeka continues to lurch from one problem to another: the zoo's vet - apparently now back on the staff - is suing for unfair dismissal.

Former zoo director feared firing | CJOnline.com

It does all sound rather tangled.

The comments that follow the article are interesting. Clearly some of the posters have their own agenda, but 'gruntled' seems to know what (s)he is talking about. I'd be interested if any Zoochatters have a view of this one. I've always had a soft spot for Topeka after visiting several times in the early 1990s, and find this continual crisis rather sad.....
 
This is not just another problem, but an old issue getting media attention from a current civil lawsuit.
 
I uploaded about 50 new photos of Topeka Zoo into the gallery today, and having recently finished reading the 500+ page autobiography of Gary K. Clarke (Director Emeritus of Topeka Zoo) I am struck by two things. Firstly, the zoo was truly innovative with its World Famous Tropical Rain Forest building that opened in 1974, along with the Gorilla Exhibit and its walk-through tunnel in the mid-1980's. Secondly, these days the Rain Forest structure is extemely small, the gorilla habitat is far too tiny for its inhabitants, and there are countless subpar exhibits all across the zoo. Some of the new areas are nice (Black Bear Woods) but the elephant paddock is asking for trouble from animal-rights activists and the threat of losing AZA-accreditation is once again looming in the foreground. The much-anticipated Penguin Plunge temporary enclosure is the worst thing in the zoo!
 
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