Date
March 28, 2006
Contact
Elliot M. Katz
(415) 388-9641, x225
Kristie Phelps
(757) 423-0093
In Defense of Animals
131 Camino Alto
Mill Valley
CA 94941
IDA is an international, California-based animal advocacy organization dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by defending their rights, welfare and habitats.
Television Personality Bob Barker to Urge L.A. City Council Committee to Stop Zoo’s Wasteful Elephant Exhibit Plan
When: Monday, April 10th – 12:55 P.M.
Where: Los Angeles City Hall – 200 N. Spring Street, John Ferraro Council Chamber, Room 340
What: Television personality Bob Barker will appear before a special Los Angeles City Council joint committee (Arts, Parks, Health & Aging and Budget & Finance) on behalf on In Defense of Animals (IDA) and urge council members to vote no on L.A. Zoo’s proposed $40 million elephant exhibit expansion plan that still does not provide the space that elephants need to thrive.
Who: Bob Barker, who is in his 34th year as host of CBS-TV’s “The Price Is Right,” is a leading champion of animal issues and presented important testimony before Congress on behalf of captive elephants in 2000.
Why: The City of Los Angeles faces a staggering $270 million budget deficit, yet L.A. Zoo is proposing that the City spend $40 million on an elephant exhibit that still will not meet the complex spatial, cognitive and social needs of the elephants. In the wild, elephants live in large, tightly-knit family groups and range tens of miles a day, which maintains health and well-being. Today’s meeting with determine if the plan for the elephant exhibit expansion goes to the full city council for a vote.
L.A. Zoo’s plan calls for holding TEN elephants on 3.5-acres, subdivided into four yards; it is estimated that only about 2.5 acres of the exhibit is actual useable space. Lack of space in zoos is directly linked to crippling and often-lethal physical conditions, such as arthritis and chronic foot infection, as well as neurotic repetitive behaviors such as head bobbing and swaying. All these conditions are seen in the three elephants at L.A. Zoo.
California State Assemblyman Lloyd Levine has introduced a bill that would require a minimum area of 5 acres for a maximum of three elephants and 1/2 acre of space for each additional elephant. L.A. Zoo’s plan would not meet the bill’s space requirement.
Eight U.S. zoos have closed their elephant exhibits, citing inability to properly care for elephants, including Detroit and San Francisco in 2005. Other zoos that plan to close or phase out their exhibits include Bronx Zoo (New York), Philadelphia Zoo and Santa Barbara Zoo (California).