Friday, May 24, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Critics of Pat Dingle, director of the Southern Nevada Zoological Park, plan to have a protest rally Saturday morning in front of the Rancho Drive facility.
The purpose of the rally, said Jackie Leemans, a former zoo volunteer and staff member, is to remember the death of the Barbary ape Mujica on May 25, 1993, and the death of Simon the chimpanzee on May 29 of last year.
"We've done it every year since Mujica died," Leemans said, "and this is the first anniversary of Simon's death."
Leemans and several other former staff and volunteers charge that Dingle's mishandling of the reintroduction of Mujica to his species led to the primate's death.
Their complaints prompted an investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which found enough evidence to require a hearing into Mujica's death. The hearing is set for July 31 in Las Vegas by order of an administrative law judge after an April conference between the USDA and zoo representatives.
The USDA has also investigated the death of Simon the chimp six days after he arrived at the zoo last year.
That investigation, said Wendy Koch, a supervising animal care specialist for the USDA, also turned up enough evidence to refer to department lawyers in Washington, D.C.
Koch said the evidence had to do with "veterinary care provided to the chimp" before it died.
"I think there's enough evidence that it's certainly worth pursuing at this point," she said.
Dingle, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, refused to comment this morning about the protest or the USDA investigations.
The protesters will gather at 10 a.m., Leemans said, "just to remind the public that the USDA hasn't finished with him (Dingle) yet."
"A lot of things move so slowly, people think things are over and done with. But there was wrongdoing there and until it's put to rest, we will continue."
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