Zoo Fights Lawsuit Seeking Transparency
Seattle, WA – Alyne Fortgang, a Seattle tax payer, filed a motion for a summary judgment today asking the court to rule the Woodland Park Zoological Society (Zoo) be subject to Washington State’s Public Records Act. The Zoo has received over $100M in taxpayer money since 2002 with no end in sight for their escalating demands for more money; yet they refuse to be accountable.
“What is the Zoo trying to hide?” says Ms. Fortgang.
Fortgang is Co-founder of Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants and as such, has filed numerous public records requests to the Zoo for information regarding the health and welfare of the three elephants held there. In many instances the Zoo withheld information, claimed it had no records pertaining to the request, or provided information that later would prove to be grossly inaccurate.
“Not only does the Zoo think that they don’t have to be transparent with taxpayers” says Ms. Fortgang, “but they are paying their lawyers to fight to continue withholding financial and welfare information from taxpayers—the very people who foot the bill to keep the Zoo open.”
The summary judgment: http://freewpzelephants.org/Motion_Summary_Judgment.pdf
The court date: July 25th, 2014 at 1:30. King County Superior Court, 516 Third Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
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