Date: Fri 29-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SUZANN

Quick Words:

DeFrancesco-DEP-animals-zoo

Full Text:

Local Zoo Owner Seeks To Meet DEP Requirements

(with cut)

BY SUZANNA NYBERG

Snowy, Spirit, Zaphanja, Nala, and Alexis, Susan DeFrancesco's animal friends,

are safe from the reach of the DEP while Mrs DeFrancesco seeks to get a

variance on her property and then bring it up to code.

The owner of East Coast Exotic Zoo recently drove her long-time companions

down to Florida where they will stay while Mrs DeFrancesco works on making her

home handicapped accessible and obtaining her wildlife rehabilitator's license

from the DEP. "It was a four day drive," Mrs DeFrancesco said. "But I felt

good about it. The animals are happy. They are in a beautiful place, and I

know that they are coming back."

Mrs DeFrancesco said that she is doing her best to comply with DEP demands,

but that compliance is difficult. She has informed Ed Parker, the chief of the

Bureau of Natural Resources at the DEP, that she has placed the animals until

she can meet his criteria. The criteria are that the animals live on property

zoned for a nature center; that the property is handicapped accessible and can

provide seating for 20 to 30 people; and that it has regular business hours

and a board of trustees.

Still, most at issue for Mrs DeFrancesco is her wildlife rehabilitator's

license, a license she said that she has already earned. "I passed the test,

and I worked the required number of hours with the animals," she said. "But

the DEP is holding back on giving it to me."

Mrs DeFrancesco said that her run-ins with the DEP have not been the first

time a private zoo keeper has had problems with the state agency. She recalled

a Darien case more than ten years ago when the DEP went in with a SWAT team to

kill a tiger whose owners had licenses for him. Only the presence of the

media, said Mrs DeFrancesco, saved the tiger, who died not long after anyway

due to medical problems aggravated by the stress to which he was subjected.

A USDA inspector recently paid a routine visit to Mrs DeFrancesco's zoo and

cited her for minor violations, including inaccurate record keeping and

cobwebs. On important issues such as medical check-ups and vaccinations, the

zoo was not cited. "No place is perfect," Mrs DeFrancesco said. "Every place

gets written up because it's impossible for anyone ever to attain a perfect

score." Some of the problems, such as an area of exposed chain link fence in

the wallaby's outdoor run, were corrected before the inspector left the

premises.

While Mrs DeFrancesco has an amicable relationship with the federal

government, she fears that her confrontations with the DEP will cause problems

in other areas of her life. She was scheduled to do an education program at

Riverside Amusement Park in Massachusetts, but after calling their state DEP

to obtain importation permits for the animals, Riverside phoned her to cancel

the agreement. "Of course, I can't prove it, but I suspect the DEP in

Connecticut put the kibosh on the project," Mrs DeFrancesco said. The

cancellation will cost her $5,000, money that would have been allocated to

bringing her zoo up to code.

"I'm trying to do what Ed and everyone is asking," Mrs DeFrancesco said, a

wistful look in her eye. "But it's difficult because no laws or regulations

can be cited as authority for the criteria."