Updated 7:00 p.m.

In an effort to build a major wildlife museum, President Alexander Gonzalez wrote letters to help local hunters Paul and Renee Snider obtain a license to hunt 82 species that were not covered by a standard Tanzanian hunting license. Some of the requested animals are considered high risk for extinction and are on the red list, according to a report by the Sacramento Bee.

The red list, compiled by the Species Survival Commission, contains those animals most in need of conservation attention. In 2003, most of the species requested were not on the red list.

In a letter to the campus community sent yesterday, Gonzalez responded by saying he should have been more careful.

“On the other hand, there was no question in my mind that we would ever condone the inclusion of ‘at risk’ species in any collection,” he wrote.

Additionally, Snider told the Bee he didn’t know that the species were on the list.

In a 2004 letter to Emmanuel Severre, director of Wildlife in the Ministry of Natural Resources in Tanzania, Gonzalez requested that the Sniders be given a special license to hunt the red-listed animals. He wrote that the animals and the museum would “be used for the instruction and edification of our own students, school children in our region, and citizens of the Sacramento area.” The Bee obtained the letters through a Public Records Request.

In May, the Hornet reported that the Sniders would likely include their collection of East African animal skins in the proposed museum.

In a meeting to discuss plans for the new science center, some faculty members questioned the importance of an East African collection. In addition, others felt the museum’s collection methods were potentially unsuitable.

“There had been controversy for many years,” said Nick Ewing, chair of the biological science department. “The department had discussed whether the university should accept the collection at all.”

The Natural Science and Mathematics department is in the process of drafting up a policy that details the ways in which the university can accept specimens, Gonzalez said.

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