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Elephant-rights activists are getting under the not-so-thick hides of Oregon Zoo officials.
Last summer, regional government Metro, which runs the zoo, quoted The Northwest Examiner an $18,000 bill for public records the community newspaper requested on the zoo's elephant-breeding program.
Examiner publisher and watchdog journalist Allan Classen says he'll file a new request and pay the costs with money from elephant welfare activists and longtime zoo critics Barbara Spears and Jon Gramstad.
"We hope to bring [the cost] down from the stratosphere," Classen says. "But this will not be waylaid simply because the amount seems large."
Metro spokesman Jim Middaugh says the newspaper's last request was voluminous.
"We respect the public's right to request records," he says. "When the requests are so large, it is very challenging for us to care for animals and fulfill those requests."
Media scrutiny and activist outcry against Metro has increased this month as the zoo moves its pachyderms into Elephant Lands, a $57 million exhibit funded by a 2008 property-tax bond.
Activists at a May 14 hearing accused Metro of exploiting elephants to boost zoo attendance.
"We couldn't get any more people in if we had elephants dancing in tutus," Metro Council President Tom Hughes shot back—and then added, "We don't intend to do that, by the way."
WWeek 2015