As Turmoil Mounts at SF Zoo, City Auditor Threatens to Step Up Investigation

Updated 3:36 p.m. Wednesday

The chief city auditor, looking into trouble at the San Francisco Zoo, slammed its management over the weekend, accusing them of failing to comply with his team’s investigation and threatening to escalate orders to turn over documents.

In a scathing letter first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Dan Goncher, a principal in the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office, wrote that the zoo’s management had been uncooperative with the audit since it launched in January, failed to hand over dozens of documents, made false claims about the status of others and provided contradictory financial statements.

“If zoo management continues to be uncooperative in fulfilling our requests, we will recommend that the Board of Supervisors take further action to compel you to do so, including by exercising subpoena power,” the letter reads.

Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the neighborhoods surrounding the zoo, said she’s already asked the chair of the Budget and Finance Committee to hold the zoo’s $4 million in annual funding in reserve until it complies.

She said her actions were in response to CEO Tanya Peterson’s “consolidation of power” after members of the board of the San Francisco Zoological Society, which runs the zoo, attempted to oust her in recent weeks.

“I cannot say [Peterson] has been successful because this is a basic thing in the relationship — transparency and accountability — and we haven’t been able to get it,” Melgar told KQED. “Whether or not she should continue, that’s up to the board, that’s the way things are. … As the supervisor, the representative for the area in the city, I wish that the relationship were more functional.”

The Board of Supervisors requested the audit of the scandal-ridden zoo in December after an Animal Control and Welfare Commission report found unsafe conditions for animals and employees. It also came after the union representing about 100 zookeepers, dieticians, gardeners and other zoo workers overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in Peterson.

Since January, the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office has requested 25 sets of documents regarding the facility’s finances, recent health and safety inspections, internal policies and complaints, according to the letter. As of Sunday, only six of the items had been completely handed over to the auditing team.

Zoo spokesperson Sam Singer said he believes that the audit team’s claim that the zoo has failed to comply with the investigation is “possibly a misunderstanding” and that it is in “substantial compliance” with the review.

But Goncher wrote that much of the requested information had only been partially provided, some has been withheld or reportedly does not exist, and in multiple cases, false claims or conflicting information have been submitted.

The letter was sent Sunday to Peterson, members of the Board of Supervisors and staff of the Zoological Society. It followed a back-and-forth between Goncher and Peterson in which the CEO’s assistant responded Sunday to a list of outstanding documents with a letter on the zoo’s tracking of information requests.

The Sunday letter included multiple misleading claims, Goncher said, including that the Zoological Society has complied with the audit team during and following a January visit to the facility.

“You disregarded our meeting agenda and instead gave us a lengthy presentation on the history of the Zoo,” Goncher said. “After over 90 minutes, I interjected so that we could discuss our agenda items, at which point you informed us that Zoo management would not be cooperating with the audit until further notice.”

Documents submitted by the zoo since then, including an inspection report and the most recent accreditation report by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, have been incomplete and included “extensive redactions,” he said.

Other inspection reports and citations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have not been turned in, and some, the zoo said, did not exist.

“[San Francisco Zoological Society] reported no USDA findings for the audit period, but the [Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office] identified evidence to the contrary,” Goncher said.

He said that between 2020 and 2025, the zoo was cited by the department for deteriorating primate enclosures, a lemur escape, rodent feces and facility issues.

“USDA also issued multiple ‘Teachable Moments’ related to fencing, sanitation, and pest control,” the letter said.

Singer did not respond to direct questions about why the zoo has withheld specific documents cited by the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office, or Goncher’s claim that others exist, contrary to the zoo’s statements.

Goncher’s threats to escalate the investigation are the latest in an unfurling controversy at the zoo.

Last month, union leaders said the Zoological Society’s board was attempting to oust Peterson, who they said had lost support from staff and board directors.

Following multiple closed-door meetings, Peterson remained in power, but five directors have since resigned, with one citing issues with Peterson’s employment specifically. Union representative Corey Hallman told KQED that he believes the other resignations were also in “what seems like protest for the dysfunction of the zoological board.”

Still, Singer told KQED last week that Peterson has the “unanimous support” of the board.