A Little Sunshine for the L.A. Zoo : New administrator is making headway in dealing with facility’s longtime problems

In coming weeks, Los Angeles Zoo Administrator Manuel Mollinedo will again sit down with officials of the American Zoo & Aquarium Assn. to review progress--and problems--at the city facility. Last summer, when he first met with this group, which accredits U.S. zoos, he was grilled for two hours. There was much to talk about then, most of it negative. This time the going should be easier.

Billy the bull elephant finally has his own outdoor pen, a safe distance from the female elephants. The prairie dogs are no longer in danger of drowning in rainwater pooling in their pens. Stronger fences keep out most of the wild skunks and raccoons and the diseases they carry.

Mollinedo, who took over last year after Marc Goldstein was unable to make headway against the zoo’s spiraling problems in his three-year tenure, was on the job just weeks when he first faced the AZA board. He inherited an institution in a nose dive. Animals were dying from disease and mismanagement, exhibits were outdated and worn, and far too many cages were empty. The zoo was a depressing place and attracted fewer and fewer visitors. The 30-year-old institution was also in serious danger of losing its AZA accreditation, which would have limited its ability to acquire new animals from other zoos or trade its own. The AZA gave the zoo until this summer to make improvements.

Mollinedo has made progress in part by ordering simple changes like tree trimming and brush clearing. Overgrown trees had punched holes in cages, and sunlight-blocking foliage had caused problems for some animals. Many bigger changes still are needed, and they of course will take more time and money.

Mollinedo, with 26 years of park management experience, has obvious administrative talent. He also has key support from City Hall, which had been embarrassed by the zoo’s sorry state. Mollinedo got some new funds to work with; he is also getting needed organizational autonomy within the city structure. Future success will depend on his own continued enthusiasm and his ability to forge a more profitable relationship with the zoo’s fund-raising arm, the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn.