Los Angeles Elephant Sanctuary » Los Angeles Zoo

23-10-2008

A small addition: every new elephant exhibit of which I am aware is being designed with the capability of housing bulls. That did not used to be the case.

This does leave unresolved what to do with bachelor males down the road. But AZA is actually behind a new elephant "sanctuary" in Florida.

I do suspect that the recent rush to build larger elephant exhibits has left the designers in the dust. Some zoos are trying state-of-the-art holding with sand floors and group stalls available, but others are recreating the kind of holding typical for the past decades. These new exhibits need to be carefully thought out. AZA is trying to offer some organization and guidance to the elephant exhibit issue, but AZA is somewhat of a herd of cats. It can only push its member so much.

My reading of the press on the L.A. sanctuary does not lead me to believe it is intended as a new rural expansion of the zoo. For one thing, it won't be adequately funded at the rate the Councilman proposes. (And he proposes building it in an area that is plagued with wildfires!) Furthermore, look at the new Pittsburgh Zoo rural elephant and breeding center. It raised all sorts of opposition when it was proposed. Anti-zoo activists don't care what you call it or how big it is...it's still a juicy target. There are two issues here: one is providing properly for elephants and the other is what to do with anti-zoo activists. I think it is a mistake to confuse these two things.

And this L.A. "news" stinks of being simply a plot to ban elephants from zoos:
"Cardenas' first motion calls for Los Angeles to join the dozen cities to shutter their elephant exhibits, while sending its last elephant, Billy, to a sanctuary.

His second motion calls for an advisory group to target 60 acres for an elephant satellite sanctuary to be run by the L.A. Zoo, in addition to a feasibility study by the chief legislative analyst. " ( http://www.dailynews.com/ci_10770872?source=rss )

Once elephants are banned, there is no guarantee of a second facility being built, merely a feasibility study to see if the sanctuary makes sense. It's the old bait and switch, folks!

One final note: when Lily Tomlin addressed the Dallas City Council last week to pressure the Dallas Zoo into sending Jenny to Tennessee, the Council stood firm. One reason cited was that the Council did not want to give the anti-zoo activists a "win."

24-10-2008

Well said Zooplantman!

Cardenas
24-10-2008

I think Cardenas already got what he really wanted from this proposal: His name in several news stories.

24-10-2008

Is he up for re-election?

24-10-2008

I don't think so. But he is the target of some recent ethics/election spending investigations.

24-10-2008

I just uploaded some pics of the exhibit in the gallery.

24-10-2008

I think its an excellent idea, hopefully great future breeding site, wonder if they will import or get transfers from other zoos. Shame about Billy though.

24-10-2008

I you read the expert comments made by okapikpr and zooplantman you would know that the Cardenas proposal is a diversionary tactic and seeks to ban elephants from LA Zoo.

Besides this sanctuary idea has not secured any funding and is quite separate from the AZA-sponsored endeavour by various zoos which seeks to build an of-site breeding facility for elephants.

It is a stinker and that is all it is.

What is really sad about individuals like Cardenas or the animal welfarists is that they really do not care 1 inch for the survival of endangered species either in situ or ex situ. They would rather have a species be phased out in captivity, reside in a "sanctuary" without any efforts at breeding them and let them die out in situ than ever put any resources or their own mouth's money towards real conservation initiatives (and I mean both in situ and in captivity).

Thankfully, they do not always prevail - despite overt PR and marketed publicity in the public media - and f.i. the San Francisco Zoo sanctuary plan has been sunk forthwith (at the expense of months of media wrangling and time misspent on communicating the real issues to them on SF Zoo that might have been better put towards turning the SF Zoo around in a more positive and forward direction.

The only issue I would like to raise here is the AZA/SSP elephant commissioned plans for breeding of Africans and Asians. Perhaps zooplantman or okapikpr can shed some light (I will pm you 2 too).

Regards,

Jelle

24-10-2008

Oh sorry I should of only said that it is a good idea for a state of the art facility for breeding but, your right $8.5 million dollars in debt, is the zoo that rich enough top pay that back in good time/??

24-10-2008

Cheers to Mario (mstickmanp) for posting the construction photos! There has certainly been a lot of ongoing construction around the exhibit, and the Los Angeles councillor who stated that all the zoo had done was level and grade the ground clearly got it wrong in that regard. There are those people who are happy to see elephants in urban zoos, while others regard that species of mammal as continually suffering much more than others in captivity. I truly hope that the L.A. Zoo can pull off a fantastic habitat for pachyderms, and that there aren't any health issues with the elephants that are brought into the zoo.

25-10-2008

Yeah, the portion of the exhibit that Billy is supposed to move into is actually finished. The only thing that is not finished yet is the viewing area and Sarus Crane/Reeve's Muntjac exhibit that is right in front of the elephant exhibit.

26-10-2008

I was at the zoo today and I was surprised on how much they have advanced on the elephant exhibit. The exhibit now has some plants inside it and surrounding the exhibit, and they've added the hot-wire to the trees inside the exhibit. They've even started working on the passage way where Billy will have to walk through to get to the new exhibit. Also, they've started working on a second structure by the Reeve's Muntjac/Sarus Crane exhibit.

I'll upload some pics later on.

26-10-2008

That's great news, I can somewhat relate , in Melbourne when they were owrking on the trail of the elephants, the last few times I visited over a few months they hadn't done much, then I can back, not long after, and I see these, plants, grass, and pool construction,,!! Perhaps once the workers get paid it acts as a carrot for them!

26-10-2008

Is not that the workers weren't working fast enough before, it's just seems that after Councilman Cardenas proposed the new sactuary they've worked even faster.

26-10-2008

oh, I didn't mean offence before, if it seemed like I did I'm sorry, did they hire any new staff to work on the new sanctuary?