San Francisco committee approves fundraising plan to host pandas from China
A committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a resolution Thursday that would allow city departments, including the mayor's office, to solicit donations from private philanthropic groups to help fund the costly endeavor of hosting giant pandas from China at the San Francisco Zoo.
In order to raise money from private entities, Mayor London Breed must be granted an ethics rules waiver since the city's behested payments ordinance prevents city officials from soliciting private donations. The ordinance is an ethics rule that restricts city officials from receiving private funding, which can influence their decision-making and cause corruption.
During the last Government Audit and Oversight board committee hearing on this issue, Supervisors Dean Preston and Connie Chan brought up some concerns about the resolution regarding the pandas, such as the wide breadth of city departments allowed to accept donations and the lack of clarity regarding what exactly the money will be spent on, Preston said.
"We've come together around some amendments that at least from my perspective address the issues that were raised at the last hearing," Preston said Thursday.
The resolution was amended to specify what the money would go toward in covering the costs of raising pandas as well as narrowing down the extent of city departments that can solicit private funding, Preston said.
The committee unanimously agreed to authorize the ethics rules waiver. It will head to the full board next week for approval.
Before public comment at Thursday's meeting, Preston mentioned that in the last hearing, he believed some of the questions brought up were "outside the scope of this resolution."
Animal activists on Thursday raised concerns about the welfare of the pandas if they are kept at the San Francisco Zoo. They shared their worries entailing the decision itself to host pandas at the zoo.
Mayor London Breed signed a lease agreement in April with the China Wildlife Conservation Association for giant pandas to reside at the zoo. In an effort to fund the costly project, Breed is seeking the ability to receive donations from private philanthropic groups.
"Pandas are famous for adapting poorly under captivity, often refusing to breed. They can easily die from negligence as evidenced by Le Le's death at Memphis Zoo last year, which was front page news in China and caused great anger towards the United States," said animal activist Fleur Dawes.
Dawes spoke as a representative of SF Zoo Watch, an organization committed to raising awareness on the zoo's controversies of negligence and mismanagement that endanger animals and workers. She cited events in which workers and animals at the San Francisco Zoo have been endangered or harmed, according to former and current zoo staff.
"Recent incidents include a zookeeper chased by a grizzly bear, a penguin decapitated and a baby gorilla crushed to death by a hydraulic door, all due to aging and inappropriate facilities," said Dawes. "This inability to provide proper environments creates a distressing atmosphere filled with distressed animals and unhappy staff."
On Christmas Day in 2007, a teenager was killed at the San Francisco Zoo after a Siberian tiger jumped out of its pen and mauled the 17-year-old. The tiger was then shot and killed by police.
"The pandas are so important to the Chinese people. We're not prepared to take them on, particularly not the San Francisco Zoo. It's unfit for any animal, let alone a highly sensitive one," Dawes said in an interview after the hearing.
Dawes also said the infrastructure of animal enclosures at the zoo is inadequately built and maintained to prevent unintended contact between animals and visitors.
"There's a single wire going around the top of the tiger enclosure. It's utterly ridiculous. It's a total public health hazard. It's a hazard to the workers there."
Melissa Flower, a San Francisco native, also came to bring up her worries about the pandas being housed at the zoo.
"If this were happening at Oakland Zoo, then we really wouldn't have a problem," Flower said.
Oakland Zoo has taken steps over the years to try and become a rescue sanctuary for animals, Flower said.
"Today was a really critical moment. It was the last opportunity for public hearing on this issue," Dawes said.
"The pandas will die. Or they'll be taunted," said Susan Sidney Dent, a concerned citizen from Marin County. "We need to keep pressuring them ... We're not going to be silent on this."