State to consider zookeeper e-mail
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Almost four months after approving a permit to move Rusti the orangutan from Honolulu Zoo to Kualoa Ranch, the state Board of Agriculture will consider e-mail testimony in opposition to the move.
Advertiser library photo • Sept. 23, 1997
However, that may not be enough to satisfy zookeeper Linda Vannatta, who last month filed a lawsuit to have the decision voided. Her suit contends that her e-mail testimony was not distributed to board members in compliance with the state's "sunshine law," which calls for open meetings.
Rusti, a 23-year-old orangutan, is a resident of the Honolulu Zoo until a permanent home for him can be decided upon.
The transfer for Rusti is already on hold because his new enclosure at the Windward facility was constructed without a permit. Rusti has been on an extended visit at the zoo since 1997 as various plans to move him to a permanent sanctuary have fallen by the wayside.
Rusti's owners, the Orangutan Foundation International, and his zookeepers are eager to have him moved to Kualoa Ranch as soon as possible. They say the accommodations planned for him there will be the best the 23-year-old primate has ever had and will allow Rusti to maintain contact with the humans he has grown attached to in Honolulu.
However, Vannatta, along with other animal rights activists, have urged the board to have the orangutan kept at the zoo or flown to a sanctuary in Florida.
Keeping the orangutan permanently at the zoo is not an option, however, because the city plans to raze his cage once he leaves to make way for a new exhibit.
Vannatta's testimony will be considered at the Agriculture Board's Thursday meeting. The first agenda item reads: "Consideration of e-mailed testimony and submissions (regarding relocation of "Rusti" the orangutan) inadvertently not distributed prior to the Feb, 20, 2003 Board meeting."
According to the lawsuit, Vannatta e-mailed testimony to board chairwoman Sandra Kunimoto, who did not distribute it because she did not consider it testimony. The Office of Information Practices concluded that this was a violation of the sunshine law.
Vannatta's attorney, Jack Schweigert, said that the board's action may or may not satisfy his client, depending on what happens after they hear the testimony. "What they should do is void their last meeting and agree to hold a new public hearing because what they did last time was wrong," he said. "If they decide to hold a public hearing, that would be terrific."
However, if the board members simply hear the testimony and say it does not affect their decision, "it would not be consistent with what they should be doing under the law," Schweigert said.
DOA spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi said the full board will decide whether to reopen discussion on Rusti at the meeting.
Vannatta's testimony, which alleges that moving the orangutan to the Windward facility poses a danger to Rusti and to public safety, has raised the ire of Rusti's zookeepers, who believe that Rusti would be better off at Kualoa Ranch.
Malia Davis, who has cared for Rusti since he arrived at the zoo, said Vannatta asserted that Rusti receives annual tuberculosis testing at the zoo, when he has not had a TB test since he arrived. The test requires the orangutan to be knocked out, and he did not respond well to anesthesia when he was last put to sleep five years ago.
"He hasn't had any really medical care in that manner since," Davis said, adding that he has been healthy.
Vannatta's testimony takes issue with sending Rusti to Kualoa Ranch, which she characterizes as an unaccredited roadside zoo. But Davis said the Florida sanctuary Vannatta recommends is also unaccredited.
While Davis agrees that the temporary cage he will initially stay in is smaller than his home at the zoo, the planned permanent enclosure will be much better. "It's really large, it's going to hold two to three trees, a monkey pod tree and a kukui nut tree," she said.
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
