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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Manuel Mollinedo, the new director of the Honolulu Zoo, arrived in Hawaii two months before a new $3 million entrance was installed.
Honolulu Zoo director Manuel Mollinedo is resigning effective March 1.
In a letter this week to Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Mollinedo said, “I am especially proud of being able to mobilize zoo staff and city resources so that the zoo could be accredited as a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.”
He also noted that during his tenure, the city completed a long-stalled elephant habitat and a new zoo entrance.
Mollinedo was hired by former Mayor Peter Carlisle in December 2010. He had been executive director and president of the San Francisco Zoological Society from 2004 to 2008. He previously also had been director of the Los Angeles Zoo.
He had been chosen from a pool of eight applicants by an independent selection panel.
