News Story Ruffled Animal Park’s Feathers

One false move and the vulture gets it.

The public relations director at the Wild Animal Park spent two days late last week knocking down a front-page story in the Chicago Tribune that said radical environmentalists have made death threats against Molloko, the first California condor conceived and hatched in captivity.

The furor arose from an interview between William Toone, the park’s curator of birds, and Tribune reporter James Coates. Coates quoted Toone as saying that death threats have led to extraordinary security precautions such as armed guards, motion detectors, burglary alarms and “everything but land mines.”

Coates’ story was picked up both by the Tribune news wire and USA Today. Within hours, park public relations director Tom Hanscom was getting calls from news organizations across the country, seeking more information and on-camera interviews.

For two days, Hanscom was explaining that Coates got it wrong. Yes, there is substantial security at the park to protect Molloko, but, no, there have been no death threats.

The security dates back to 1982, when anonymous threats were aimed at the condor breeding program after HolHol, now one of the program’s resident males, was captured in the wild, Hanscom said. If anything, he added, critics of the condor program are being won over by the emergence of Molloko, a sign that the program has moved from snatching to hatching.

“To raise an issue such as death threats against the condor just kicks over some beehives that we thought had calmed down in the last few years,” Hanscom said.

After a discussion between Coates and Hanscom, the Tribune ran a Page 2 clarification saying that the story was based on erroneous information provided by Toone. Hanscom would have preferred an outright correction saying that Coates had thoroughly misunderstood Toone and had incorrectly thought the 1982 threats were current.

Coates, now back at his Denver office after a two-day visit to San Diego, said he is chagrined by the flap because of his high regard for Toone and the Wild Animal Park.

He said that, when his editors decided to put the death threat angle in the lead of his story--it originally had been in the eighth paragraph--he had tried to contact Toone for more information but was told that he was in Burbank appearing on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.

Still, Coates remains convinced that Toone told him the threats were aimed at Molloko. “I think he told me the truth in our interview, but, when it hit the fan, the park wanted to deny it,” he said.

A Take-Charge Mayor

Sapidah Shefa, 12, an immigrant from Afghanistan, got a good dose of local realpolitik Monday when she reigned as San Diego mayor-for-a-day under a new program sponsored by KidsPlace, a nonprofit organization trying to get children more interested in downtown.

The sixth-grader at Ross Elementary School in San Diego won the honor for her essay calling for more trees and lights downtown, as well as an annual fair.

She gave press interviews, ordered an aide to clean his office, inspected the police and fire headquarters and helped the full-time mayor chair a City Council meeting. (See photo on Page 8.)

She passed her first test under fire: remaining unfazed when gadfly Rose Lynne stormed to the microphone to denounce Mayor O’Connor for giving her trainee a box of sugar-packed M & M candies.

Sapidah also proved to be a tough boss when a mayoral staffer asked for the day off. “No,” came the cool response. “I’ll be needing you later.”

The Great Pancake Test

The folks at International House of Pancakes corporate headquarters in North Hollywood were looking for the ideal spot to road-test their new multi-grain-and-nut pancake, so naturally they picked the IHOP on West El Norte Parkway in Escondido.

For a week, complimentary pancakes made of grains, honey, walnuts, almonds and semi-sweet butter were given to IHOP patrons, some of whom drive all the way from Oceanside.

The flapjack freebies stopped Sunday, but the new offering is still being served in Escondido while corporate marketing analysts decide whether it will join 16 other pancakes listed on menus at IHOP’s 465 restaurants nationwide.

“You can order them in place of buttermilk pancakes on any egg plate,” explained hostess Jenny Steger.

Becky Krause, IHOP advertising and promotions director, said Escondido was tapped for the test because it does a robust business and has a large clientele of seniors. The pancake, as yet unnamed, spent a year in the test kitchen and still faces months of study before a decision is made.

“When pancakes are your business, you don’t put just anything on your menu,” Krause said. “We feel very confident about this pancake, but as far as a national roll-out, it’ll be within a year.”