DUMPING OF GIRAFFE-KASHKA

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Dumping of Giraffe 'Poor Judgment'

By Dan McKay

Journal Staff Writer

Miscommunication and "extremely poor judgment" led to the remains of a beloved giraffe ending up in a large trash bin at the Rio Grande Zoo, according to the results of an internal investigation.

In any case, the city employees most closely involved in the incident will face "some level of discipline," perhaps a reprimand, said Albuquerque's Chief Administrative Officer David Campbell. He doesn't expect anyone to be fired.

"Frankly, I'm no less unhappy now than I was before," Mayor Richard Berry told reporters Friday. "We had a series of miscommunications. We had a series of bad judgments."

The improper disposal of Kashka's remains triggered disgust and outrage earlier this week when the public learned that she had ended up in a trash bin. The 16-year-old giraffe, mother of six calves at the zoo, was euthanized last week after veterinarians determined she had health problems that couldn't be treated.

In accordance with zoo policy, internal investigators say, Kashka was dismembered because of her size and underwent a necropsy. Things went wrong after that.

City officials and internal reports released Friday say:

%u2022 A zoo manager and lower-level employee discussed sending Kashka's remains for burial at the landfill, which is standard for animals too large to be incinerated at the zoo.

As the manager and employee talked over the logistics, the employee asked whether he could put Kashka's remains in the "open top." The manager thought that phrase referred to a pickup truck that would take Kashka to the landfill. The employee, however, was referring to a large trash bin at the zoo. Kashka ended up in the trash bin.

%u2022 Disposal of the remains that way violated "policy and law." State environmental and health regulations require animals to be buried in a special section of the landfill to ensure that they don't contaminate groundwater.

%u2022 Putting Kashka in the trash bin was a result of unclear city policies on the handling of animal remains.

%u2022 A sanitation worker who emptied the trash bin shouldn't have proceeded to the landfill after seeing "signs of bodily fluids." The worker should have notified a safety officer immediately. No one was put at risk, however, because Kashka had no communicable diseases.

%u2022 At 2,000 pounds and 15 feet tall, Kashka was simply too big to be cremated at the zoo, as smaller animals are.

In response, Berry and other top officials said city employees will be retrained %u2014 both on how to handle dead animals and on what to do if something looks amiss at a large trash bin. There will be further inquiries into the incident, they said.

"We're going to take the opportunity to make sure it never happens again," Berry said.

Campbell didn't identify the employees involved and wouldn't say what disciplinary action they will face. Employee personnel files aren't public information, he said, and the city will follow the legal process for discipline. Campbell did say the city doesn't have "legal grounds to fire any city employee involved. ... This was a serious miscommunication, but there was not any deliberate insubordination or desire to impugn the dignity of this great animal."

A private firm, Robert Caswell Investigations, helped the city look into the matter.

Berry didn't know how much the firm cost but said it's worth it to ensure that the problem doesn't happen again.

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