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Zoo Generous To Boss' Safari

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By BAIRD HELGESON

bhelgeson@tampatrib.com

Published: October 7, 2008

Lowry Park Zoo President Lex Salisbury has been a big beneficiary of the zoo's generosity.

Earlier this year, the taxpayer-supported zoo gave Salisbury animal pens it paid $27,526 for six years ago. Since 2006, the zoo donated at least 11 animals to Salisbury, including patas monkeys, helmeted guineafowl and a grey parrot.

The zoo director said he has never wrongly profited from his ties to the facility, but the donations show that Salisbury has been able to leverage his close ties to the attraction to aid his effort to build Safari Wild, his yet-to-open exotic-animal park in Polk County.

Fauna Research of Red Hook, N.Y., installed the pens in February 2002, according to records obtained by The Tampa Tribune. The steel and wood pens and are designed to contain large, hoofed animals.

Earlier this year, Lowry Park Zoo officials determined the pens were too beat up to be useful and recommended they be thrown away.

Around the same time, Salisbury inquired about taking the pens. He asked that Fassil Gabremariam, the zoo's board chairman, sign off on the donation.

On May 28, Gabremariam wrote a letter to Salisbury saying the zoo would donate the pens, loading chute and hardware. The pens are "no longer suitable or practical for our use," wrote Gabremariam, who sits on the board of Safari Wild's separate nonprofit foundation.

The pens are now at Safari Wild.

Mark MacNamara, president of Fauna Research, inspected the pens before they were donated to Salisbury. He said the pens were in bad shape, having weathered rapidly in the hot sun.

The zoo asked MacNamara if he could resell the pens, but he declined because of their rough condition.

Still, MacNamara wouldn't say they were a total loss. He said the pens could be refurbished for about $8,500, half the cost of buying them new.

Donations to Salisbury aren't limited to equipment.

On April 17, the zoo gave Salisbury two female patas monkeys. They were among the 15 patas monkeys that Salisbury took to a manmade island at Safari Wild. A few days after their arrival, the monkeys swam to freedom and vanished into the nearby countryside. Ten of the monkeys have been captured.

It's unclear how much a patas monkey is worth. Salisbury said he rescued them from being euthanized in Puerto Rico.

The zoo donated eight helmeted guineafowl to Salisbury in January. The African birds, which prefer to run rather than fly when spooked, have a value of about $100 each, according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, an organization that accredits the zoo and keeps a database of animals for sale.

In March, the zoo donated a grey parrot, which can sell in exotic-animal stores for around $1,000.

It's difficult to put a value on an animal without a thorough knowledge of its origin, said Larry Killmar, the zoo's director of collections.

For instance, the grey parrot had flown into the zoo and was captured by staff. Nobody knew its age, health or history.

Zoo officials tried to find the owner, even placing a notice in the newspaper.

No one responded, so the bird sat in the zoo's clinic.

"Nobody will take a bird like that with no history," Killmar said. "How can you put a bird like that in your collection?"

So the zoo donated the bird to Salisbury.

Critics say that even if the board chairman approved the donations of equipment and animals, Salisbury's role gives him the unique position of knowing what supplies and animals might be available.

"We don't believe there should be any comingling of assets between the zoo and its chief executive," said Santiago Corrada, the city's representative on the zoo board. "There are just too many instances that create a perception of a conflict of interest."

City officials are particularly troubled that Salisbury received animals.

The Lowry Park Zoological Society leases the zoo land from the city. According to the 1988 lease agreement, the zoo owns the animals and their offspring.

Salisbury has said he wasn't aware of that stipulation until recent weeks.

City ethics policies prohibit the donation of taxpayer property to city employees, said Lee Hoffstatler, a chief accountant for the city.

Lynn Majo lived and worked on Safari Wild property for about a year.

He built fences, helped when the patas monkeys arrived and transferred countless large animals back and forth from the zoo to Safari Wild. Majo, who was on Safari Wild's payroll, said he lost track of all the trips he made to the zoo for animals, equipment and supplies.

One of the biggest zoo items at Safari Wild was a large trailer that stayed at the Polk County property.

"There was zoo stuff around," Majo said. "But I never really thought about it at the time."

Inside The Zoo's Trouble

Lowry Park Zoo President Lex Salisbury took an immediate leave of absence Friday until the completion of two separate audits exploring whether he improperly used zoo resources and animals for Safari Wild, his private exotic-animal park in Polk County.

Salisbury and St. Petersburg veterinarian Stephen Wehrmann bought 258 acres of land north of Lakeland in 2007 to build Safari Wild. They envision visitors taking African-style tours to see exotic and endangered species, but permitting issues have halted construction.

Late last year, the zoo's six-member executive committee signed a memorandum of understanding with Safari Wild to ensure the two facilities will work together. The executive committee severed the relationship in June after concerns arose about Salisbury's possible conflict running the zoo and a for-profit exotic-animal park. The zoo and the city launched separate audits to ensure nothing improper occurred. The audits should be completed within a month.

Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668.

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