San Francisco’s wild hearts beat at the zoo, home to lions, great apes, and — if Mayor London Breed has her way — giant pandas. But behind the scenes, the zoo is being strangled by inept leaders, dysfunction, and a broken contract that’s failing both its animals and the people who care for them.
Just last week, the San Francisco Zoological Society, after a five-month internal investigation, chose not only to retain CEO Tanya Peterson but to celebrate her leadership. To anyone familiar with the inner workings of the zoo, that decision is nothing short of shocking.
Peterson, a lawyer with little experience with animals or nonprofits, took the helm as interim director after the 2008 tragedy when a tiger named Tatiana escaped her enclosure, killing a teenager before being gunned down by police. Since then, Peterson, earning a staggering $358,000 annually — even more than the mayor herself — has remained in control, steering what insiders call one of the worst city zoos in the country. One former employee even likened the conditions to those of a “roadside zoo.” No fewer than 97% of the zoo’s union members twice cast a vote of no-confidence in Peterson, the Chronicle reported; she has been accused of spying, nepotism, and animal neglect.
According to interviews with former and current zoo employees, Joint Zoo Commission meetings, and a draft report from the City Animal Welfare Commission, the San Francisco Zoo is crumbling — literally and figuratively. Many of the animals are confined to century-old concrete pits. Gorillas wade through flooded moats during storms; koalas sit cramped indoors because their outdoor space is too small; and orangutans live on sad, 10-by-10-foot islands surrounded by moats. François’ langurs live in chain-link cages that are so small, the animals can’t properly swing around the enclosure. The penguins are dosed with fungicide to survive their shallow pool. Chimpanzees? They’re within grabbing distance of visitors. Staff are stuck working in dilapidated trailers, battling leadership just to get basic safety measures. Many of the staff have left or were pushed out. The zoo has experienced numerous unsafe incidents, including animal escapes, thefts, and negligent deaths.
And then there are the truly jaw-dropping decisions made by Peterson. Imagine a zoo director attempting to house agile, expert-climbing predators in an open-top grotto. First, according to a well-placed former employee, she attempted to put a jaguar in the 90-year-old Grotto B, then a snow leopard. And now, she wants to put pandas in that same space — where their night quarters will be within sight and smell of — wait for it — African lions. What could go wrong?
But, hey, pandas! They’re the magic solution to all of the zoo’s problems! Sure, it’ll cost upward of $70 million to temporarily loan pandas from China for 10 years, but who cares about a potential fiscal black hole when you’ve got adorable black-and-white bears to parade around?
Meanwhile, just across the bay, Oakland Zoo spent that same sum of money on the California Trail, doubling the zoo’s footprint and creating naturalistic habitats for wolves and grizzlies. That zoo is actively rehabilitating wildlife — 52 condors and 27 mountain lions to date — and is helping to reintroduce bison to Blackfeet tribal lands. A progressive zoo making a real impact.
Under Peterson, the San Francisco Zoo has consistently failed to complete key infrastructure projects, with the Madagascar exhibit unfinished after six years and the Andean condor project never even started, leaving the raptors stuck in old feline cages. A tree-dwelling jaguar languishes in a 30-by-40-foot enclosure with no trees, while the zoo operates without a master plan — or even a one-year strategy — focusing instead on Band-Aid fixes and headline-grabbing gimmicks.
Even Breed is in on the joke. After the Board of Supervisors voted to let city departments solicit private donations to bring pandas to SF, the mayor wasted no time reaching out to big-name donors. According to letters obtained through a public records request (see below), Breed solicited funds directly from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; Salesforce cofounder Marc Benioff; Greg Sarris, chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria; and Dominic Ng, CEO of East West Bank.
Breed even had the audacity to promise Altman that the zoo would integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning into the panda exhibit — never mind that the facility can’t even keep its grizzlies properly contained. And as if that weren’t enough, she offered Benioff the chance to sweeten the deal by talking to the Chinese government about having him name the pandas!
San Francisco’s animals, staff, and residents deserve better than this circus (and yes, it’s the cruel, exploitative kind). It’s time for immediate reforms and for City Hall to take action to prevent further harm to both animals and staff at the San Francisco Zoo.
The San Francisco Zoological Society has undeniably proved it is unfit to continue managing the zoo, with leadership priorities misaligned with the best interests of the animals, employees, and community. The city of San Francisco must act swiftly to terminate its contract with the Zoological Society and seek a responsible organization that genuinely prioritizes animal welfare and the zoo’s integrity.
Imagine if the Conservation Society of California, which runs the Oakland Zoo — one of the nation’s most progressive and forward-thinking institutions — took over leadership of the SF Zoo, expanding its conservation mission in transformative ways. Another proven model exists in the Wildlife Conservation Society, which successfully operates five zoos in New York.
Under new leadership and with financial investments, the city could turn the zoo into a world-class, animal-friendly institution. Currently, only 10% of the zoo’s 100 acres are dedicated to animals, many of which live in 90-year-old infrastructure. Consider the city of Elk Grove’s $302 million commitment to build the new Sacramento Zoo, with projected economic impacts of $425 million and more than 2,400 jobs created.
If San Francisco fails to act, the city risks letting its zoo remain little more than a roadside attraction — unworthy of the animals or the people it is meant to serve.
Justin Barker is a San Francisco-based TV producer, activist, and author of “Bear Boy: The True Story of a Boy, Two Bears, and the Fight to Be Free.” He recently launched SF Zoo Watch, a platform advocating for change at San Francisco Zoo.