LA Zoo and Billy

LOS ANGELES — Longtime "Price is Right" host Bob Barker has pledged $1.5 million to move a lonely elephant to a sanctuary in Northern California...

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci...?nclick_check=1

That link doesn't seem to be working...

Try again. It worked for me but they did lengthen the article.

Bob Barker pledges $1.5 million to move LA elephant to sanctuary

LOS ANGELES — Longtime "Price is Right" host Bob Barker pledged $1.5 million today to move the lone elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo to a sanctuary in Northern California, a move that could end a dispute about where the pachyderm should live.

Barker said in a letter he would donate the money to move Billy the elephant to the facility run by the Performing Animal Welfare Society.

There, Billy would be reunited with Ruby, another elephant previously moved from the zoo.

The sanctuary "offers the nearest thing possible to life in his natural habitat," Barker said in the letter.

Billy is caught in a long-running dispute between city officials and animal rights advocates about whether the elephant exhibit at the zoo should be closed and replaced with a $42 million enclosure.

The zoo has been working for years on its new "Pachyderm Forest" — an exhibit designed to give elephants the space they need to beat the blues of captivity. The project is about one-third complete.

But celebrity opponents and the tight economy are threatening to turn it into a white elephant.

Construction has been stopped by the City Council, which is expected to decide Wednesday whether to scrap the six-acre exhibit that would be seven times larger than the current enclosure and feature nearly four acres of open space with pools, mud holes and a waterfall.

About 100 people rallied outside City Hall on Monday in support of the project. A dozen animal rights advocates demonstrated in opposition.

Activists and celebrities, including Barker, Halle Barry and Goldie Hawn, have complained that the new exhibit would still be too confining and depressing for the behemoths that walk dozens of miles a day in the wild.

The zoo has had a history of problems with elephants. Officials say about a dozen have died since 1968.

Zoo officials and members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits the nation's zoological institutions, counter that conditions at zoos have improved, and elephants are now living long, healthy lives in captivity.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci...?nclick_check=1

But I bet at least a dozen more wrote letters.

Why is it so hard for people to show up for animals??

LA City Council voted to keep Billy and complete the elephant enclosure. Here is a statement from PAWS ...

PAWS Will Be Watching Billy

(Galt, CA) With construction jobs on the line, today’s decision by Los Angeles City Council to continue to fund the exhibit for Billy, the bull elephant at the LA Zoo, was not unexpected; however the unnecessary vilification of the PAWS Sanctuary and the numerous blatant false statements made by zoo personnel and supporters about our elephant program far exceeded even our lowest expectations.

PAWS is not the reason for problems at the Los Angeles Zoo.

The LA City Council has voted to entrust the future for the elephant squarely on the back of their zoo which has one of the worst track records in the country.

PAWS will closely monitor the huge expenditure of public funds for Billy. We fully expect that Billy will receive round-the-clock care for that enormous expense with keepers and veterinarians to assist him at all times should problems arise during the night.

Unfortunately, despite the professed superior care at the zoo, Gita, Tarra and numerous other elephants derived little benefit from their expertise.

We sincerely hope, for Billy's sake, that the LA Zoo will utilize their broad base of professionals and create an elephant habitat that reflects their promises.

PAWS and everyone who believes that Billy deserves much better care than he is receiving now will be watching.

http://www.pawsweb.org/news_and_alerts_1-28-09.html

well said. we will all be watching.
cf

2 articles, and a telling sentence in each:

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_11577178
"We all love him with a passion and only want to protect him," Burnett said.

http://www.causecast.org/news_items/7858-e...-stay-at-la-zoo
“Zoo supporters screamed with delight after the vote …. “

In other words, zoo supporters screamed with delight that Billy will continue to be deprived of a better quality of life in a more natural environment. Is this how the zoo loves Billy "with a passion"?

A comment from Will Travers at Born Free UK:

http://www.bornfree.org.uk/blog/?p=127

"...and the numerous blatant false statements made by zoo personnel and supporters about our elephant program far exceeded even our lowest expectations."


I think we all need to lower our expectations of the depths the zoo industry will sink to to protect their business interests.

Advocate Discusses Zoo Elephant Controversy on "Talking Animals"

Mar 04 2009 11:30


Our guest on "Talking Animals," March 4, at 11:30am, will be CATHERINE DOYLE, an elephant advocate and central figure in what's become a national story about the debate that's erupted over the Los Angeles Zoo, its lone elephant, Billy, and the Zoo's plans to build a $42 million "Pachyderm Forest" elephant exhibit.



http://www.wmnf.org/program_specials/show/341

Posted on PAWS website ...

A song for Billy: When Elephants Cry © 2007 By: Mayuka Thais

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl-LQtOdEpg

Dear Billy has lost a friend - Bea Arthur dies:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8018858.stm

...the following celebrities have come forward to support Billy in his Fight for Freedom
http://helpbilly.org/

Actor Still Wants To Close LA Zoo Elephant Exhibit

In a lawsuit filed in August 2007, Culp and real estate agent Aaron Leider alleged the zoo withheld medical care, confined elephants in too small an area and used bull hooks and electric shock to control them. They also maintained a larger exhibit would be a waste of taxpayer money.



http://cbs2.com/entertainment/Los.Angeles.Zoo.2.1061488.html

L.A. Zoo Fined for death of Gita

A whopping $3,281 - that's less than three days pay for Philly Zoo director Vik Dewan, to put it into perspective - but for the USDA to fine an entity at all means that something truly egregious happened. Poor Gita.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12880303