Concern over Elephants At The Los Angeles Zoo
By Zach Behrens
On Saturday morning, a group of animal activists took to the LA Zoo to let patrons know what the city is planning to do with their upcoming elephant exhibit and what the past has held for the elephants. The controversy over Billy, the sole elephant in the zoo , recently came back when City Councilmember Tony Cardenas—at the urging of activists—changed his position on an already under construction $42 million 6-acre pachyderm exhibit.
Cardenas suggested Los Angeles build a large elephant sanctuary , something the Friends of the LA Zoo say is a nice thought, but sanctuaries do not require the strict accreditation that zoos must abide by . TV animal expert Jack Hanna has sided with the zoo saying it sets “a new standard for the care of elephants at zoos .” On the other side, experts say Billy has pathological problems and that he is in need of more space. Mainstream media outlets such as TIME and NPR have reported on a recent study—although disputed—on how zoos shorten the life expectancy of elephants.
The issue is coming back to the City Council this week and activists have planned numerous demonstrations leading up to that meeting.
For related news, visit our Animals Channel for Change.
Photo: Tom Andrews/LAist
***CORRECTION
Causecast originally reported that “15 Elephants Have Died At The Los Angeles Zoo” in the above article. This information was taken from an earlier article on LAist.com . It has been pointed out to us that this information may have been biased or inaccurate. After doing additional research, we have corrected the above article with the most recent information we could find. If you have further information or insight on the topic of this article, or any relating to zoos and animal rights, please leave a comment below or email us at editorial@causecast.org . We look forward to hearing from you.
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Lombard:
actually, you've got it completely backwards, and by yuor own logic, you have compeltely discredited the "experts' for the zoo, and given credit to the people you think are not experts. the Dr. who did the "behavioral study" (which, by the way, would end around 7 pm and start around 6am the next morning, leaving Billy unobserved overnight for almost 12 hours) was done by a HUMAN psychologist...and this is the official testimony the zoo is using to claim billy has no mental or emotional issues. meanwhile, joyce pool and daphne sheldrick, who have been working with and studying not only animals, but ELEPHANTS for a combined 75 yrs, say that billy should be relocated. along with them are several elephant veterinarians, current and former zoo directors, and other scientists. please, give it a rest ont he "experts" thing. all of the supporters of his relocation are non biased outside sources that have nothing to gain form their statments. all of the "experts" supporting the new enclosure are zoo staff. trained byt he zoo, paid byt he zoo, and supporters of the zoo. how's tjhat for objectivity?
Check out the editorial in Saturday's LA Times, the ad in today's LA Times and the rally at 11:00 today on the steps of city hall for information on Billy and the Pachyderm Forest. Perhaps you could consider putting up a photo that is favorable to the nonprofit GLAZA, since the two representing animal rights groups have been running for some time.
Check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQCnH1fURWM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fncJaM7MG3M
"Experts" do not say that Billy has pathological problems. People who are experts in other fields and are operating outside of their expertise are saying these things. Go to www.billyshome.com for the evaluation of Billy by an expert UCLA neurologist. Billy has no pathological problems, he is not ill, is not on medication and has never had foot disease due to EXPERT veterinary care.
"a group of animal activists took to the LA Zoo to let patrons know what the city is planning to do with their upcoming elephant exhibit and what the past has held for the elephants." What about this statement does not make it obvious that it is biased reporting? How can "animal activists" be expected to "let patrons know WHAT THE CITY IS PLANNING" OR "WHAT THE PAST HAS HELD"? These groups do some good, but can also completely twist the facts when you get on their extremist side. They state 15 elephants have died at the LA Zoo. The fact is that like many people an elephant may have a given name, a nickname and a name picked up later on, but it is still ONE elephant. IDA calls such an animal three different elephants on their list. Also, animals that moved to different zoos years prior to their deaths are counted in that number 15. The last two elephants to die at the LA Zoo or soon after leaving were in their lates 40s, far older than the average lifespan for an elephant in a sanctuary in Africa.
Thank you
JUST CURIOUS, WHY WAS THIS ARTICLE WRITTEN BY THE EDITOR OF LA-IST? DOES HE HAVE ANY ANIMAL CREDENTIALS WHATSOEVER?
I am confused by your posting about Billy and the LA Zoo Pachyderm Forest exhibit, confused and disappointed. While the brief article seems to include several expert quotes that are positive, the title and photo are extremely derisive toward the Zoo, plus your number is wrong. For accurate numbers perhaps contact Jason Jacobs at the LA Zoo. It might be savvy to get your facts straight and tell the WHOLE story, not focus on the PETA dispersed information. The fact is that all living things die eventually, simply quoting how many elephants died is useless and biased. Perhaps check the ages of those elephants. PETA claims that elephants CAN live to be 60-70 years old, much like you CAN live to be 120 years old, not likely for either under the best of circumstances.
The Science magazine article you quote has been trashed by the scientific community because the work was partly funded by animal rights groups, which makes the science questionable. The study was done in European zoos that have completely different oversight standards than do American zoos, yet it draws conclusions about ALL zoos, specifically those in the US. The peer review process failed and the article was printed, but that still doesn't make it fact. The only scientifically credible study comparing longevity of elephants in the wild to those in zoos found the average life spans to be comparable, but only for "wild" elephants living inside sanctuaries. The wild elephants outside sanctuaries had much shorter life spans.
Regardless of your feelings on this subject, again your article's title and the fabricated photo are extremely biased and manipulative of the readership. This is a very complicated issue The bottom line is that experts in the field say that the LA Zoo's Pachyderm Forest sets a new standard for elephant care, addressing the known needs for elephants in captivity at a higher level than even San Diego's Wild Animal Park or Zoo with almost twice the space for three elephants as the SDWAP has for 10 elephants. By the way, the elephants at SDWAP were brought directly from Africa as they were due to be "culled" = killed. PETA said they would rather see the elephants dead than in a zoo, SDWAP disagreed and has a successful breeding group now.
In an ideal world zoos would not be needed as arks for wild animals, because arks is what the AZA accredited zoos have become, successfully breeding and reintroducing animals to the wild, but it is not an ideal world and zoos would rather help than allow species to go extinct. Billy is genetically unique and can help improve the genetic diversity of his species. I hope you will remove that terrible libelous photo and title from the web and produce an accurate article with an unbiased title and photo.
Check out Slash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBDVJcAR2XY
Dear Causecast,
Your headline is libelous and untrue. Prove it or lose it.