Elephant Voices

Category: 1. General News, 4. Welfare News, Elephants in captivity | Date: Dec 05 2008 | By: elephantvoices

In our previous post we wrote about our involvement in trying to convince the LA City Council members to close down the elephant exhibit at the LA Zoo and to shelve plans for building a new one. The proposed exhibit, 3.8 acres for the elephants including a barn with 10 stalls, would be far from satisfactory space for Billy and the proposed 6-10 other Asian elephants they plan to put in there.

The Council met again on 3rd December, and once again has postponed it’s final decision, while Billy keeps bobbing his head in boredom and frustration. The Zoo has been given a chance to source private funds, before a final decision is taken, but with the focus now on finances rather than elephant welfare, we think that the Council is missing the point.

The heated discussions in LA City Council chambers and Billy’s destiny are starting to attract international attention - expressed in this BBC coverage.

The LA Times is following the situation closely, as you can read here. Joyce spoke at length to Council members during our time in LA from 17 to 20 November, and also in an interview with the LA Times. That interview was followed up in another LA Times article 1st December.

We are not very happy that so much focus has been placed on the financial issue - we have no particular opinion about how the city of LA uses it’s money. With such focus it could be argued, in better times, that Billy’s welfare isn’t important. We are certain that the pro-elephant exhibit people will be able to raise enough private funding to continue building if the LA City Council allows them, but if that closes the case leaving Billy still bobbing behind bars that would be very sad.

We hope that strong scientific arguments AND common sense will prevail in the end. This is not about kind keepers versus extreme activists - but about accepting the reality that conditions in urban zoos do not allow a vigorous, social and intelligent animal like the elephant to live a decent life.