TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Pressured, Salisbury Quits Zoological Association Post

ADVERTISEMENT

By BAIRD HELGESON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 22, 2008

TAMPA - Lex Salisbury lost his job running Lowry Park Zoo.

Now he has resigned from a leadership position of a nonprofit zoo organization after several members said he and another Lowry Park Zoo staff member threatened the integrity of the group.

Salisbury and Larry Killmar, the zoo's director of collections, resigned Thursday from the Zoological Association of America, which had its office at Lowry Park Zoo. Killmar was chairman and Salisbury was secretary of the fledgling organization, which supports exotic-animal breeders, animal parks and a few zoos.

Jim Fouts, interim chairman of the group, sent a letter to members Saturday saying the two stepped aside for different reasons, which he did not outline.

"However, both felt it to be in the best interest of the organization with all the controversy surrounding the Lowry Park Zoo," wrote Fouts, owner of Tanganyika Wildlife Park outside Wichita, Kansas.

Salisbury resigned from the group the same day the Lowry Park Zoo board asked him to step down from his $339,000-a-year job. The board made the decision a week after a city audit found Salisbury used the zoo's animals and resources to help build his for-profit exotic-animal park, Safari Wild.

Mayor Pam Iorio wants law enforcement to investigate Salisbury's zoo dealings.

The day Fouts released the resignation announcement, four members of the zoo group wrote a letter to its membership demanding a new vote on the group's leadership.

"We stand in disbelief of Mr. Salisbury's actions," the letter states. "We have also begun to question Dr. Killmar's actions and/or lack of actions as Lowry Park's director of collections."

Salisbury and Killmar could not be reached for comment.

Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668 or bhelgeson@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT