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Zoo, Salisbury Had 224 Trades

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By BAIRD HELGESON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 2, 2008

TAMPA - It's fair to say Lowry Park Zoo President Lex Salisbury takes his work home with him.

Since 2006, Salisbury and his for-profit exotic-animal park, Safari Wild, have been the zoo's most regular animal traders. The animals range from domestic horses, to helmeted guinea fowl, to Arabian camels and rhinos, according to transfer records obtained by The Tampa Tribune.

The animal transfer documents show 224 loans, trades, donations or sales between the zoo, Safari Wild and Salisbury, who also has a private exotic-animal ranch in Dade City. Of the all the transactions, the zoo only named Safari Wild in three. The rest named Salisbury.

It's unclear whether animals transferred to Salisbury ended up at Safari Wild or his ranch. The zoo apparently ended the transfers in July.

Larry Killmar, the zoo's director of collections, was unavailable Wednesday for comment.

The transaction records raise questions as to whether Salisbury could have used city-owned zoo animals to stock his yet-to-open animal park north of downtown Lakeland.

The transfers also highlight a potential conflict of interest in having the zoo's president run a separate exotic-animal park, particularly one that did business with Lowry Park.

Salisbury has said he never profited from the arrangement.

The man who is likely to become the next chairman of the zoo board didn't know the specifics of the animal transfers, but was concerned about the perception they create.

"I would prefer there to be no transfers" to Salisbury or Safari Wild, said Bob Merritt, a member of the zoo's executive committee. "And in the future, there will be no transfers."

The Tribune obtained 30 pages of animal transfers after NewsChannel 8, its corporate partner, threatened to file suit to obtain those and other zoo records. The TV station made its first records request in June.

Private Ranch, Park Used

The transfer records show the taxpayer-supported zoo routinely used Salisbury's private ranch and Safari Wild to board its burgeoning population of animals.

Salisbury and Killmar have said the zoo needs more land to give exhibit animals a break from captivity.

Salisbury is widely credited with resuscitating what was once one of the nation's worst zoos, but Merritt said he was surprised by how deep the relationship got between the zoo, Safari Wild and Salisbury's private ranch.

"Do I think Lex used bad judgment? Yes," Merritt said.

Here are some other highlights. According to the documents, the zoo:

•Lent Salisbury 26 animals, including a giraffe, several American bison and three rhinos.

•Sold Salisbury 13 animals, including ostriches.

•Donated 11 animals to Salisbury, including six helmeted guinea fowl.

•Traded six animals with Salisbury and Safari Wild including several pygmy hippopotamuses.

•Accepted a number of animals on loan from Salisbury, including 16 scimitar-horned oryx in February 2006.

•Returned to Salisbury a number of animals he lent the zoo, including nine scimitar-horned oryx on July 8 and 14 patas monkeys on April 17. The patas monkeys were taken to a man-made island on Safari Wild and promptly escaped. Ten have been recaptured.

Salisbury and St. Petersburg veterinarian Stephen Wehrmann bought 258 acres of land north of Lakeland in 2007 to build Safari Wild, expected to include African-style safari tours in which visitors will see exotic and endangered species. The nascent attraction remains mired in permitting problems.

The zoo's use of Safari Wild property spawned from a now-voided memorandum of understanding between the zoo's six-member executive committee and Safari Wild. The Nov. 21, 2007, agreement stipulated that the zoo and Safari Wild would not compete, but would help each other when both had something to gain.

Committee Voids Agreement

The executive committee voided the agreement in June after concerns arose about the zoo having a business relationship with Salisbury's private animal park. Five zoo bison remain at the Safari Wild property, displaced by the new Gator Falls flume ride. The zoo pays Safari Wild $600 a month to board the animals.

The three people who approved the most recent transfers to Safari Wild and Salisbury's personal ranch were: Killmar, zoo curator Lee Ann Rottman and Fassil Gabremariam, zoo board chairman.

The zoo appears to have halted its transfers to Safari Wild after the executive committee ended the partnership.

Starting about July 6, at least 86 animals were returned to Salisbury or the zoo.

Mayor Pam Iorio sent a letter to the zoo in early September concerned about its connection to Safari Wild and Salisbury's dual roles. She asked that the zoo get written permission from the city before it transfers an animal to any private property.

A 1988 lease agreement stipulates the city owns the zoo animals and their offspring, not the Lowry Park Zoological Society, which runs the zoo. The zoo agreed to provide a regular accounting of its animals to the city, which owns the zoo's land. The city began an audit of the zoo's management and transactions, including those with Safari Wild. It should be completed in about a month. A separate review is underway of the zoo's facilities and animal records.

"Once we get through the process, then we can reach some conclusions," Merritt said.

NewsChannel 8 reporter Steve Andrews contributed to this report. Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668 or bhelgeson@tampatrib.com.

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