ANIMAL TRANSFER POLICIES TIGHTENED.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Los Angeles Zoo officials said Thursday they are tightening their procedures to check on where animals are transferred after it was learned one was being sent to a ranch notorious for the practice known as ``canned hunting.''

As arrangements were being made to return the female bushbuck - an antelope-like animal - to Los Angeles, Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo said he is now requiring that written documentation be provided on all transfers.

``What happened here was someone gave verbal authorization to a transfer,'' Mollinedo said. ``If it had been written down, the transfer would never have been approved.''

The animal in question had been sent to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, earlier this year as part of a breeding and repopulation program.

But, at some point, that zoo asked if it could sell the animal to the NBJ Ranch, which has been identified as hosting canned hunts - inviting hunters onto their grounds to shoot game animals.

The incident has sparked an outcry from one Los Angeles Zoo commissioner and a member of an advisory panel.

Commissioner Shelby Sloan said she will be bringing in a formal proposal on the matter at the panel's next meeting this month to make sure animals are transferred only to facilities licensed by the American Zoo Association.

Gretchen Wyler of the Ark Trust, who serves on an advisory panel to the commission, said she also is concerned about the zoo's procedures.

``What's important for us now is to resolve this,'' Wyler said. ``This animal wouldn't have been used in a canned hunt because it was a female and doesn't have antlers. But they were using it for breeding. This (canned hunting) is something we have to stop.''

Wyler said California already has laws preventing such practices, but is looking to get more states to adopt similar legislation.