Rose Tu

August 16, 2000 Wednesday SUNRISE EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL STORIES; Pg. B01

LENGTH: 1356 words

HEADLINE: ELEPHANT KEEPER WON'T FACE CHARGES ;
DOCUMENTS SHOW ONE KEEPER SAID ROSE-TU HAD 176 WOUNDS, AND A VETERINARIANDIDN'T EXAMINE HER UNTIL 48 HOURS AFTER THE INCIDENT

SOURCE: ROGER ANTHONY - The Oregonian

BODY:
The Multnomah County district attorney's office has decided not to bring charges against an Oregon Zoo animal keeper accused of abusing Rose-Tu, the zoo's 5-year-old elephant.

The incident, which took place the morning of April 17, led zoo officials to suspend and ultimately terminate Fred Marion, at the time second in seniority among the zoo's five elephant keepers.

Zoo records obtained by The Oregonian on Tuesday indicate that the early-morning incident involved repeated use of the keeper's ankus -- a wooden stick with a short, metallic hook attached to one end. The ankus is used routinely to help keepers guide the elephants as they're cleaned or moved from pen to pen. One zoo keeper who examined Rose-Tu on the day of the incident reported finding 176 wounds.

The district attorney's decision is not the last word on the case. Marion has appealed his dismissal through his union, the International Laborers, Local 483. The appeal probably will be heard in mid-October.

"What we're doing doesn't hinge on whether charges were filed or not," said Jim McEchron, business manager for the union. "We have consistently maintained that the facts are in dispute."

In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been investigating the incident, an inquiry that might prove more problematic for the zoo than for Marion.

Kenneth Lerner, an attorney representing Marion, applauded the district attorney's decision. "We never thought that there was any evidence to support criminal charges," Lerner said Tuesday afternoon. He also said Marion had no interest in commenting on the case.

However, a memo about the case compiled by a deputy district attorney, Jeff Howes, suggests that the best available evidence was not compiled quickly enough by the zoo. Zoo veterinarian Mitch Finnegan did not examine Rose-Tu until April 19, at least 48 hours after the alleged abuse.

That fact might catch the attention of the Agriculture Department, which is investigating under the Animal Welfare Act, which deals with issues of animal care. "Most of the investigative work has been done," said Laura Sanchez, a USDA spokeswoman in Riverdale, Md. "It's under review now to determine how we'll proceed."

The zoo's investigation included 11 reports and 10 photographs of the elephant that were released under Oregon's Public Records Law once the district attorney's office declined to press charges.

The investigation conducted by the zoo's deputy director, Mike Keele, indicates that Marion and two junior keepers, Jeb Barsh and Bob Lee, began working with the zoo's four female elephants shortly after 8 a.m. April 17. The four animals and three keepers were in the back outdoor pen, where the elephant pool is.

As they began working with the animals, the primary focus was on Chendra, the zoo's newest and smallest elephant, who seemed to have injured an eye the day before when she turned into the sharp end of Barsh's ankus.

Lee told Keele that as he examined Chendra's eye, he heard Marion's voice rising as he gave commands to Rose-Tu: The elephant wouldn't allow the keeper to chain her leg. Barsh, who was working with a 17-year-old elephant named Song-Surin, said that his animal briefly broke away from him and started toward Rose-Tu.

With Rose-Tu still loose, Marion allegedly began chasing her. At one point, Lee said, the animal threw dirt at her keeper; she also managed to yank Marion's ankus away from him.

Rose-Tu kept moving away from Marion, who reportedly began following the animal and lifting her tail. Both Lee and Barsh told Keele that as he chased the elephant, Marion inserted the ankus into Rose-Tu's rectum.

Lerner said Marion denied that. "They were seeing this from a distance," he said. "If you were going to do that, you'd need to hold the tail up, and he wasn't doing that. Fred was hooking the tail and using that to try to guide her."

The two junior keepers confronted Marion and radioed zoo officials. According to the minutes of a disciplinary hearing held April 24 at the zoo, Keele said that he, the two keepers and a security worker at the zoo smelled alcohol on Marion's breath. Keele also said that Marion was not wearing the uniform assigned to elephant keepers that morning.

The paper trail Later on April 17, a senior elephant keeper, Ray Hopper, brought Rose-Tu into an exhibit room. According to a memo he submitted to the animal collection manager, Chris Pfefferkorn, on July 5, Hopper counted 176 small punctures and scrapes on the elephant. Hopper said he cleaned the wounds with a weak antiseptic solution.

"We absolutely dispute that," Marion's attorney, Lerner, said of the report of 176 wounds. "It's hard to know how they counted, and they didn't bring the veterinarian in to do the count."

Finnegan, the zoo's veterinarian, did not examine Rose-Tu until April 19. His report from that day reads in part: "Multiple small puncture wounds in numerous sites secondary to ankus penetration. The wounds appear to be superficial, though depth is difficult to estimate." There were no signs of infection.

Nor does Finnegan's report indicate that Rose-Tu was suffering. "Keepers report she is eating and ambulating normally," he wrote, though he did add that the animal seemed agitated by his examination, particularly when he inspected the area around the tail.

Finnegan's report also indicated that he returned April 20 after Pfefferkorn told him that the ankus might have been inserted into Rose-Tu's rectum. Finnegan wrote that he observed the animal in the elephant pen rather than undertake a complete examination, which would have been impossible without sedating the animal. "She was still very nervous about having her tail lifted," he wrote, but he could detect no signs of swelling.

Thus, as Howes' memo noted, there was no documented evidence that Rose-Tu suffered substantial pain or physical impairment.

Keele took issue with the implication that the zoo did not provide medical care promptly enough. "The district attorney's office thinks that a veterinarian is the only one who can determine if an animal is in pain or not," he said Tuesday at the zoo. "Our animal keepers are highly trained and quite capable of offering care."

Although animals are used to seeing keepers on a continual basis, they're likely to become agitated by the presence of a veterinarian, he said. "When vets are around, animals don't act normally."

During the April 24 disciplinary hearing, Marion also was asked whether he had kept his own ankus in the barn. On the heels of a Dec. 21 incident in which zoo visitor Karen Haberle filed an animal-abuse complaint after seeing Marion using his ankus on Rose-Tu, Hopper had dulled all of the ankus points in the barn.

During the hearing, Marion was asked whether his personal ankus had a sharper point than the others Hopper had dulled and why he used his ankus only when Hopper was off duty. The transcript indicates that Marion admitted having his own ankus, though he denied that it was sharper than any of the others.

Lerner, Marion's attorney, said that issue had little bearing on the incident with Rose-Tu. "Even the ones that have been dulled are still pretty sharp when you hit an elephant with them," he said.

Still, Finnegan said it's very unusual for an elephant to suffer a puncture wound from an ankus during a routine day's handling. Keele alluded to that in saying that the zoo will continue to pursue Marion's termination in the case.

"We didn't terminate him for violating the law," Keele said. "We terminated him for treating an animal badly."

Though the criminal investigation has concluded, the Agriculture Department remains interested in the case. The department's powers could include revoking the zoo's license to exhibit mammals and pursuing criminal charges, though Sanchez said neither was likely to occur in this case.

"We might direct that there's a training program for all employees about how to handle elephants," Sanchez said.

Sometimes the agency has ordered a zoo to alter an exhibit. You can reach Roger Anthony at 503-221-8430 or by e-mail at rogeranthony@news.oregonian.com.