AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Three zookeepers have been fired from the Austin Zoo following a newspaper’s investigation into animal mistreatment that quoted one of the workers detailing how a blind, aging monkey was kept alive for years despite her and others’ insistence that the animal be euthanized.
Zoo officials declined to say whether the firings were a direct result of the article, saying only that all decisions were made based on violations of professional conduct.
Kris Ledoux, who worked at the zoo for nine years, said she was suspended after the Austin American-Statesman published its investigative story in January . The zoo said Ledoux was terminated Feb. 23 for insubordination.
The zoo’s attorney also asked two other zookeepers, Nikki Steffan and Stephanie Crider, about whether they had contributed to the story, the newspaper reported . Neither was quoted in the article, but Crider said both were fired Feb. 28 for reasons that included taking lunches longer than 30 minutes.
The American-Statesman’s story in January was based on accounts from 24 current and former Austin Zoo staffers, including 17 zookeepers, along with a recording from a board meeting, several emails, animal-care records and other documents. Most of the interviewed employees detailed zoo management’s unwillingness to euthanize suffering animals and acts of retaliation against keepers who raised concerns.
The story came after six zookeepers sent a 54-page letter to the zoo’s board last summer that detailed allegations of animal mistreatment and grievances against leadership. They asked the zoo develop an end-of-life protocol. The letter also asked that Executive Director Patti Clark be barred from serving as both director of the zoo and president of its board.
The newspaper reported that in September, Clark sent an email to a newly hired deputy director of animal care listing five keepers she knew or suspected had “cooperated to some degree” with the letter. As of March, four of those five keepers had been fired.
Matt Miklaw, the former head zookeeper, was not involved with the letter but was accused in Clark’s September email of being “complicit” in the effort to produce it. He was fired two days after the email, which came shortly after he supported the letter writers’ assertions in a meeting with the zoo’s board.
Clark declined to comment for the newspaper’s story.
Rick King, a zoo board member, said explanations were outlined in each person’s termination letter.
“While we cannot comment on individual cases, all decisions were made based on clear and documented violations of the Employee Handbook and violations of other applicable standards of professional conduct,” King wrote in an email.
A three-person team from the U.S. Department of Agriculture performed an unannounced inspection of the zoo in the last week of February and found no violations, King said.
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Information from: Austin American-Statesman, http://www.statesman.com
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