San Francisco Zoo employees shocked over alleged spying scandal

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco Zoo employees have come forward to say they are shocked to learn that the radios they are required to wear have allegedly been used for spying by management.

Employees gathered in front of the zoo Thurssay and held a news conference to express concerns about the "hot mic" picking up their conversations. They say management had to have known about the issue. Management has denied that it used the radios to spy on workers.

The San Francisco zookeepers union representative said a whistleblower in management told them other managers were eavesdropping on employees and laughing about it.

"The two radios enabled to hot mic the target radios, those only belong to the director and vice president of operations," said Dave Carroll, a zoo employee.

"As keepers, we carry radios everywhere. They come into the bathroom with us, our lunch breaks, our coffee breaks," zookeper Amy Corso said.

At least 50 radios are used by animal keepers. They were upgraded six months ago after ABC7 News I-Team report revealed the code siren system wasn't working.

Employees dug up the radio's manual that specifically states that "no audio or visual indication is given to target radio" when in use.

San Francisco Zoo's executive director Tanya Peterson says she had no idea this was going on even though she is accused of having one of the specially programmed radios.

"To my understanding there's no intentional eavesdropping of any employee at the zoo via this feature," Peterson said. "We made modifications to our system, but I believe it's still safe and reliable for our employees."

Management says the feature has been disabled, but the union is now investigating the case and will seek prosecution if state and federal laws were broken.