Los Angeles Elephant Sanctuary » Los Angeles Zoo

02-12-2008

What a fiasco, this upsets me greatly. The city council should not be in a place to be judging the ethics of keeping elephants in captivity. This should be left to the people they employ to make decisions regarding animal husbandry.

02-12-2008

I really hope that Billy stays to become a sire, he is a great looking bull and out of America he and Sneezy in Tulsa zoo are "apparently" the two most genetically valuable bulls.

02-12-2008

I agree with you Ituri, the city council should of just let the exhibit be built, it's not like the city of Los Angeles just recently started having financial problems.

02-12-2008

I really don't think 3.6 acres is too small for 10 elephants. SDWAP has 11 elephants on 3 acres and the elephants per space does not really make a difference. It's better to have a lot of elephants in a smaller space like 2 acres than 1 elephant in a much larger space like 5 acres. It's more important that they are experiencing the herd structure that elephants live in than space. The keepers make sure they are getting the correct exercise.

03-12-2008

Another article has been released over controversy from the zoo point of view, LAist: The LA Zoo Elephant Controversy from the Zoo's Side

03-12-2008

Score one for the bad guys

L.A. Zoo elephant exhibit a step closer to being killed | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times

03-12-2008

Hard to explain what I actually mean, but it somewhat surprises me that so much controversy has been raised with this when other zoos with worst situations have done it easily. Probably sounds really confusing. sorry..

03-12-2008

Its Hollywood...they like to make controversy.

03-12-2008

Move over Brad and Angelina, elephants are replacing you!

03-12-2008

To expand on okapikpr's reply: On the one hand, other zoos here do not have it easy (the Dallas Zoo faced very similar opposition).And both are controlled by city parks departments and therefore ... politicians!
But on the other hand, this is California where "animal activists" actually have enough political clout to get a Councilman's support.

04-12-2008

Here is another article, which talks about todays meeting that will decide whether the exhibit will close or not.

The Associated Press: Celebrities, economy endanger LA elephant exhibit

04-12-2008

If politicians and animal activists would have their way, most animal and plant species would be extinct by now. Clientelism, tunnelvision and no background knowledge that really matters ...!

So, do not vote for them!

04-12-2008

I really don't think it is fair that the City Council gets involved because they are not that educated on the subject, and are easily convinced by the animal-rights groups. In all the cities that have the city council decide the fate of their captive elephants there are major problems. Back in 2004 the San Francisco Zoo had problems and had to shut their elephant exhibit down. The City Council is involved in the San Francisco Zoo (go figure). Dallas and LA are both having problems with their elephant exhibits on whether or not they should build new habitats and the City Council decides for the zoo here too. San Diego has not had any problems with their elephant exhibit and the construction of Elephant Odyssey, and their exhibit is going to be smaller than LA's proposed exhibit. In San Diego the zoo and the city council are not that involved, hence there is not a lot of room for the animal-rights activists voices to be heard, which is great because the zoo knows what they are doing.

04-12-2008

Well... at least Billy seems to be happy, activity when a keeper approaches means he is eager to meet him/her. Orginally Kerala elephants will dung, or urinate when they see their favourite mahout.
It is probably right there but what I don't understand is that why don't they finish what they started. You shouldn't of done it in the first place if this was the case...............

04-12-2008

@BlackRhino: San Diego has had its share of elephant problems, most of them in the 1980s and early 1990s when the state of California got involved; and the most recent controversy occured when they imported 1.6 from Swaziland a few years back. There is a good book about San Diego's problems, if you want to learn more about it...


And now for something completely different, from another article that I found...

L.A. Zoo's elephant exhibit put on hold | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times

...it appears that GLAZA has offered to contribute $14 million more to the project. There may still be hope for the elephant exhibit afterall. Consider the majority of the elephant exhibit's funding is from a propostion voted in favor by the people of Los Angeles....the people of Los Angeles have showed their support for such an endeavor. However, this vote occurred almost 15 years ago? And many more things were also to be built with the same money. I believe money is really the issue now on the table, if GLAZA can come up with the funding, will the zoo be able to complete the project?