A city audit has revealed that the zoo blew through nearly $12 million in unapproved funding on capital improvement projects. Let that sink in — not operational costs that spiraled, not an emergency repair after a storm. Capital improvement projects. The kind of spending that involves plans, timelines, contracts, and — in theory — oversight and authorization. Somehow, none of that authorization materialized before the money went out the door.

Now the zoo is back at City Hall, hat in hand, asking for an $8.5 million loan to shore up its finances. The audacity is almost impressive.

This comes at a moment when the zoo has also been angling to bring giant pandas to San Francisco — a splashy, feel-good initiative that carries enormous costs. As one Bay Area resident put it bluntly: "Do NOT get the goddamn pandas. Spending millions to rent pandas from China is ridiculous. Put the money towards improvements in the zoo itself." Hard to argue with that logic when the zoo apparently already spent millions on improvements nobody signed off on.

The deeper issue here isn't really about animals or even one institution's books. It's about a pattern. As another local observed: "Is every California government-affiliated entity somehow incompetent at managing money?" It's a rhetorical question, but the audit results don't exactly provide a reassuring answer.

San Francisco taxpayers are repeatedly asked to trust that public dollars are being stewarded responsibly. When an entity burns through eight figures without proper approval and then asks for millions more, that trust erodes — fast. The city's Board of Supervisors should demand full transparency on where every dollar went before even entertaining the loan request. And the zoo's leadership needs to explain how $12 million in spending sailed through without anyone raising a flag.

Accountability isn't a cage. It's the bare minimum.