Elephant bite creates zoo records flap
Questions about an elephant’s bitten tail prompted the Oklahoma City Zoo last week to amend its open records policy.
The changes came after both The Seattle Times and Friends of the Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, a Seattle-based animal welfare group, submitted requests seeking information regarding the bite and a partial amputation of the tail of Bamboo, an Asian elephant. Bamboo, and another elephant, Chai, arrived in Oklahoma City from Seattle in May 2015, amid controversy. Supporters of the move argued that the elephants would receive better care in what the Association of Zoos and Aquariums considers a model facility. But opponents argued the animals should be sent to an elephant sanctuary and would not prosper in Oklahoma City’s 10-acre elephant exhibit.
Chai, 37, died in January from a blood infection. Bamboo, 49, was injured recently when her tail was bitten by one of the zoo’s
five other elephants.
When Alyne Fortgang, founder of Friends of the Woodland Park Zoo, submitted an open records request seeking information about the bite, she said she was told by a city attorney that the response could no longer be sent electronically. The organization would need to send someone to Oklahoma City to pick up the information in person, she said she was told.
Fortgang estimates it was the ninth open records request she’d filed with the zoo in the past year seeking details about the elephants’ care. The Seattle Times also submitted several records requests regarding the elephants. In the past, the zoo had responded by providing the records in an electronic format.
“I thought it was clearly a way to impede our ability to get information,” Fortgang said of the new policy. “When the elephants were first transferred we had no problem getting the information. Then it seems when we filed complaints with the USDA and the Oklahoma State Veterinary Board of Examiners, that’s when we stopped getting digital access.”
The group found a local representative to pick up their requested documents.
“It wasn’t effective at all, but it’s not right to make us jump through hoops when it’s not logical or efficient,” Fortgang said of the pickup policy.
Oklahoma State University professor Joey Senat, an open records expert, said the policy of requiring those wanting records to pick them up in person was deliberately obstructive.
While the zoo was within its rights and under no obligation to provide the records electronically, Senat said he considered that a failing of the open records law and a misguided decision.
“I think it’s an embarrassing attempt to keep the Seattle group from getting these records,” Senat said. “And it’s not going to stop anyone. It just looks childish.”
Marsha Harrod, a city attorney, said numerous requests from media organizations and the Friends of the Woodland Park Zoo said time spent filling the requests and seeking clarifications proved disruptive.
While he understands some might have viewed the policy change as obstructive, Oklahoma City Zoo Executive Director Dwight Lawson said the workload from media requests and the elephant welfare group left staffers too busy to do their regular jobs.
“We definitely want to be compliant, but we’ve found ourselves in a position lately where we’re spending a lot of time supplying information to people outside Oklahoma,” Lawson said. “This isn’t Oklahomans looking at what’s happening with their tax dollars, but people from the outside often with an agenda, taking up taxpayer resources in Oklahoma for what are often repetitive requests for information.”
On Wednesday, the Oklahoma Zoological Trust relented. Records will be sent electronically whenever possible. The trust also amended its open records policy to update fees for time spent searching for and copying records. The zoo also created a section on its website for those wishing to obtain records. Previously those requests had been routed through the city attorney’s office. Now, the zoo will handle them directly.
The zoo last changed its open records policy 12 years ago, eliminating fees for mimeograph copies and disks.
“These changes simplify it,” Lawson said. “There was also a laundry list of things that were outdated that were removed.”