The Friends of the Zoo’s board, which took over the operation of the Chattanooga Zoo in September, has contracted a $25,000 consultant study to examine everything from the zoo’s management team to its policies.
“Everything is on the table,” said board chairman Gary Chazen, who with two other board members addressed the Chattanooga City Council’s Legal and Legislative Committee this afternoon.
In a separate meeting today, the group talked with editors and reporters at the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
“We know there some issues there [at the zoo], and obviously we’ve going to try to get to the bottom of it,” Chazen told the Times Free Press.
He said the zoo has asked the United States Department Agriculture, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the consulting firm to help. The board also is awaiting necropsies for the seven animals that died in a month’s time over the holidays.