Being evicted from the zoo

Photographing animals in the wild and in zoos is one of my favorite pastimes. On January 9th, 2008, I went to Oakland Zoo (Oakland, CA) specifically to photograph gibbons and--mainly--some colorful little frogs in their Children's Zoo. But instead of the pleasant day I'd been anticipating, I ended being humiliated and insulted by being evicted from the zoo.

The reason I was evicted was for mentioning to the zoo’s Marketing Director—Nancy Filippi—that I believe tigers are capable of climbing over a particular section of cyclone fencing enclosing the zoo’s tiger exhibit. She flew into an absolute rage and summoned the zoo’s head of security—former Oakland cop Bob Westfall—to remove me from the zoo.

I did not seek out Ms Filippi to tell her about tigers. The tiger enclosure is on the way to the gibbons and frogs and I stopped there to have a look. It was a quiet Wednesday morning and I was alone by the tiger enclosure when Ms Filippi approached me in very hostile demeanor and told me that the zoo prohibited visitors from photographing enclosures with no animals in them (the tigers had not yet been released into the enclosure for the day).

I hadn’t yet photographed anything but was getting my camera out of the bag when Filippi arrived. She was hostile from the moment she saw me—as if something about my appearance disturbed her—but she became absolutely infuriated when I mentioned that I thought tigers could scale the fence. When I asked her how she knew they could not climb over the fence she said “because our director Dr Parrot said so.”

Hmmmm....I wonder what the San Francisco Zoo director would have said before the recent tiger attack if someone had asked him if tigers at his zoo could climb out of their enclosure?

I left the tiger exhibit without taking any pictures and was photographing siamangs when Mr. Westfall arrived to kick me out of the zoo. He did not say he was ushering me out for suggesting that tigers could climb over a cyclone fence. He said it was because I am a professor (Ms. Filippi knew that because I had given her my name card) and was taking pictures of animals to show to my students.

The zoo's top cop actually told me that Oakland Zoo policy prohibits teachers from taking pictures of animals in the zoo to show to students. He said teachers wanting to do that must first get permission to do so from the zoo’s Marketing Director. When I asked if I could go ask the Marketing Director for permission, he said no. He said the Marketing Director wanted me out of the zoo and would not talk to me. So I canceled my zoo membership—which I’d purchased on arrival—and left.

A friend of mine in Singapore has trained adult Bengal tigers to run 20 feet up vertical wooden poles for food rewards. It was part of a behavioral enrichment program at Singapore Zoo and now is also done in Australia (perhaps other places too that I'm not aware of). I figure that an animal that can run 20 feet up a vertical wooden trunk might also be able to scale a 14-foot cyclone fence (unless it had an inward overhang at the top, which the fence in question did not). That would depend, of course, on the tiger wanting something on the other side of the fence badly enough to scale it. Motivation is the key. Adult tigers don’t normally run 20 feet up vertical tree trunks, but they CAN do it if adequately motivated. If you would like to see this for yourself, then please view the brief video clips on the Internet at the following URL’s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj0ouTQN-jg

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=3444560

Ms. Filippi’s behavior towards me was not only inappropriate and rude; it was also reckless and irresponsible. I had reason to think that tigers can escape from that enclosure if they were adequately motivated to do so, and I could have explained to her why I thought so. But instead of requesting that I do that she became hysterical, started insulting me, and had me kicked out of the zoo. She told me that I know nothing about tigers and that I intended to misinform students by telling that tigers could escape from the Oakland Zoo enclosure.

I can’t blame Mr. Westfall for evicting me from the zoo because he was just following orders like any good cop is supposed to do. However, I question his claim that Oakland Zoo has a policy of requiring teachers to obtain permission from the zoo before taking pictures of animals that they might show to students. Is that really true? He also told me that it's a standard policy among zoos, so perhaps he was just misinformed by his bosses.

A large proportion of visitors to zoos bring cameras with them and photograph animals. Does Oakland Zoo really discriminate against teachers? Is part of Ms. Filippi’s job description to be on the lookout for teachers with cameras and have them evicted? I think Oakland Zoo's administration should be made aware that the modern zoo’s main role in society is to educate the public about wildlife and conservation, and that teachers can help them achieve that aim.

I wrote Ms. Filippi requesting an apology and to Dr. Parrot informing him of the incident, but neither of them has answered. So I wrote to Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, but he hasn't responded either. The outrageous treatment I received at Oakland Zoo was an affront not only to me but to teachers in general and it also reflects badly on the City of Oakland.

In light of the recent tragedy at San Francisco Zoo, it is understandable that staff at Oakland Zoo should be a bit edgy. But this should be a time for transparency, not for rabidly defensiveness reactions like that exhibited by Ms. Filippi. Behavior like that could make people think Oakland Zoo has something to hide, which from a PR standpoint reflects incompetence.

I've never seen a tiger climb over a cyclone fence but what I do know of the tiger’s climbing ability makes me believe that with adequate incentive one could. Their long, curved claws should have no trouble hooking onto the fencing. View those video clips and see what you think.

Since Oakland Zoo is accredited by the American Zoo Association (AZA), I have to assume that their tiger enclosure was inspected and approved by AZA. I think that it reflects poorly on the AZA to have approved tiger pens enclosed by cyclone fence having no inward overhang to prevent the tigers from climbing out. But I'm sure that their standards for approval will be changing.

If anyone wants to contact the Director of Oakland Zoo, his name is Dr Joel Parrot and his email address is joel@oaklandzoo.org. He hasn't answered me, so he probably won't answer you either...but you can try.

What do you lawyers out there say about all this?