Los Angeles Elephant Sanctuary » Los Angeles Zoo

23-10-2008

Why would it be bad?

23-10-2008

Because Zoos would not have elephants anymore.

23-10-2008

Zoos would still have the elephants, they would just be at the zoo's larger facility...like San Diego's Wild Animal Park or London's Whipsnade. The concept would be great for smaller urban zoos that cant commit the space for breeding elephants.

23-10-2008

Not all zoos have larger facilities and most of the new elephant exhibits being constructed are going to be amazing.

23-10-2008

As of right now, all that i've heard from the news is that LA zoo held a news conference infront of the new exhibit and they said that they will continue with the plan of finishing the portion of the exhibit and to move Billy there by the end of the month. Of course everything could change in a matter of hours. I've also heard that the mayor of LA is not in favor of the sanctuary, so who knows what will happen.

23-10-2008

Sorry, let me back up....this Los Angeles councilman is proposing to build a NEW elephant facility for the Los Angeles Zoo to house elephants that would be OPEN to the public. I cant find any mention that there would be no breeding like the facilites in the US that are called elephant sanctuaries...I believe this councilman is trying to be politically correct to make his proposal more attractive and persuasive.

If there would be other zoos to follow suit, they would acquire NEW properties to develop such a facility, much like San Diego did back in the 1960s for the Wild Animal Park

I know that elephant exhibit being constructed will be great, there has never really been an upheavel in elephant exhibit design like those for apes and big cats. But this new facility that is proposed will allow for greater improvements and possibly increase the number of elephants the zoo could have, especially in breeding situations or hold bachelor herds. On a property like that, the LA Zoo could develop browse gardens, hay fields, off-site breeding areas for other species, etc. Not to mention save the city a lot of money...something there seems to be less of these days.

23-10-2008

thanks for the update mstickmanp!

23-10-2008

@Black Rhino: you say that the new elephant habitat will be an "amazing exhibit" but have you been to the Los Angeles Zoo lately? They have spent millions on a series of enclosures that are ultimately disappointing. The "Sea Life" pool has had boring harbour seals replace California sea lions in a decent but not exceptional habitat. The orangutan exhibit was heralded as something spectacular before it opened, but it is a massive waste of cash and is an absolutely terrible enclosure for orangs. "Campo Gorilla Reserve" cost a tremendous amount of money and while it looks impressive it is extremely poorly designed for great apes. I'm truly hoping that the elephant habitat will be brilliant, but it's costing $40 million and will probably be average at best. The zoo has spent an absurd amount of cash over the past decade, and the chimpanzee habitat is the one and only good enclosure that they have built. Is the elephant exhibit really going to be any better? I bet it becomes outdated within ten years, and in the meantime the zoo will continue to receive a lot of flak for keeping elephants. It's not worth the never-ending bad press.

23-10-2008

Well, personally I want the elephants to stay at the zoo. After all that Billy has gone through, I think he deserves the new exhibit with some girls. By the looks of what has already been built, the exhibit looks amazing. There are a couple of trees (mature eucalyptuses) inside the exhibit, some death trees for elephants to push around, rocks, and sandy hills. The exhibit looks so cool themed.

I know that the new sanctuary would be amazing, but if it does happen it will be only 60 acres and only for elephants. I don't see a point for an off site facility that is only 60 acres, especially when they will charge extra for people just to see elephants.

The only loser here is Billy, which has been waiting for ever, and now that his portion of the exhibit is almost finished he may be forced to stay more time in the small ugly exhibit. The plan also mentions on sending Billy to another sanctuary, then bringing new elephants in to the LA sanctuary, so Billy will be wasted.

Also, I think something fishy is going on. The councilman that is proposing this was a big supporter of the new exhibit. Now he think that the new exhibit will be a death chamber. He is also now supporting Bob Barker, which in my opinion should instead try to help out animals in labs instead of constantly bashing the LA zoo. I think that this plan is Bob Barker's plan not the councilman's. I also could tell that the councilman has never been to the zoo, because he keeps mentioning that all that has been done is leveling and grading the land, which is not true because Billy is due to move to the new exhibit by the end of the month.

Anyways, I think the new plan will not happen, as no other councilman is supporting the plan.

23-10-2008

Hey scott, you're right about using too much money, but what many people don't know is that most of the money was used to replace the infrastructure in the area of each new exhibit. The zoos infrastructure is from the 1960's, of when the zoo opened. This was the case for the golden monkey exhibit and the three ape exhibits. I think this is also a problem for the new elephant exhibit.

Regarding the bad press, for the past year and a half the zoo has not had bad press. Only positive things, which has contributed to attendance records at the zoo for the past three years.

Also, about the Sea lion exhibit. The sea lions were too old and suffering of arthritis, so they had to move to their previous exhibit which makes it easy for them. The Harbor Seals are only on loan, while their exhibit is constructed at an aquarium in New Jersey (not sure which), so maybe we will be getting Sea Lions in the future.

23-10-2008

I agree with blackrhino on this. Recently in the zoo i work at, Taronga in sydney, we had a lot of issues with our elephants arriving and the new enclosure being built. Once again animal rights people getting government on side. And because we are also run by the government we were nearly told not to house them. In fact all the dramas occured after we spent 48 million on a new exhibit and were then very nearly told we wouldn't have elephants to put in it. However we got the elephants, with the new enclosure, and believe me there were many days when protesters were out in force after the elephants arrival. Within 18 months we had a natural pregnancy followed by an AI pregnancy and then the animal rights people started attacking the program because apparently one of our females was to young to breed or some crap. So basically animal rights activists will never go away. And the problem is is they use the past to justify not moving foward. It's like saying there were issues with the C.I.A in the past, so lets just close it down instead of change it into a benifitial organisation so i think that it would be an extreme loss for the zoo and for the elephant program at large to loss the exhibit at the L.A zoo

23-10-2008

I just found another article, and this one is from the Associated Press:

The Associated Press: LA councilman gets celeb help in zoo elephant move

This one talks about Billy bobbing his head, which many people think it's because of stress and I disagree. I personally has seen it many times and do believe the zoo when they say that he does it before it's time for the zookeeper to arrive to his exhibit. I was at the zoo early one day and Billy was bobbing his head, then I called his name and he immediatley stopped bobbing and ran to me thinking that I was a keeper. After he realized who I was he went back to his business. That proves that he does wait for keepers. The zoo has now recently changed the times that the keepers go visit Billy which has lowered his head bobbing by 50 percent.

23-10-2008

I agree with you zooworker, protesters will never go away, especially when the main topic is elephants.

23-10-2008

what i don't understand is when people think that what the animal rights activists are saying is valid. When you look at what they say and when they say it. They always complain about certain key note species, where admittedly wrong has been done in the past, and complain about that wrong only when that species is going to undergo a huge renovation of enclosure which to me proves it's all just a stunt. Think about all the other species of animals in captivity that are in sub standard enclosures, i would say that elephants account for maybe 1% of that. I think these animal rights people actually cared they would be fighting for zoo's to renovate and be focusing on more the asian region, because 95% of enclosures there are just way below a healthy standard and the few enclosures that are alright are for small animals, so all the large animals in this area are in incredibly poor enclosures, i point out sea paradise in japan as the worst enclosures for marine mammals i have ever seen in my life! Show pool wonderful, places where they actually live, disgusting.

23-10-2008

@snowleopard: Yes, I have been to the LA Zoo lately within the past year. I don't think Campo Gorilla Reserve is as bad as you claim it is. I also did not think the Red Ape Rainforest is as bas as you claim. Plus, I highly doubt an almost 4 acre habitat will become outdated within 10 years.