Date
December 12, 2006
Contact
Catherine Doyle
323-301-5730
Kristie Phelps
757-423-0093
In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner Blvd
San Rafael
CA 94901
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 Announces Pledge Match to “Rescue Ruby”
Elephant Being Held in “Solitary Confinement” Will Be on Agenda of Town Hall Meeting
Los Angeles, Calif.—During a Town Hall Meeting hosted by Assemblymember Lloyd Levine on “The State of Captive Elephants in California,” members of In Defense of Animals (IDA) and Los Angeles Alliance for Elephants will announce a $300,000 pledge by Bob Barker, the famed host of TV’s The Price Is Right, to match donation pledges in support of sending Ruby, an elephant at Los Angeles Zoo, to a sanctuary. The funds will provide for her care and maintenance at the sanctuary.
What: The State of Captive Elephants in California, a Town Hall Meeting
When: Wednesday, December 13
11:30 a.m., media availability with Assemblyman Lloyd Levine and elephant experts*
12:00 noon, Town Hall Meeting
Where: Ronald Reagan Building, Auditorium (1st Floor), 300 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles
Ruby, who is 45 and an African elephant, has no place in L.A. Zoo’s planned elephant exhibit expansion, since it will accommodate only Asian elephants. Despite this fact, and the apparent support of the L.A. Zoo board of commissioners for sending Ruby to a sanctuary, the zoo has stated that it is considering shipping Ruby off to yet another zoo, in spite of the failure of a past attempt to move her to another zoo.
The PAWS sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif., has offered to give Ruby a lifelong home where she can be with others of her species on 70 acres in a natural environment. At PAWS, Ruby would have 500 times the space of her current zoo enclosure.
For over four decades, Ruby has endured the many pains of an elephant’s life in captivity. Taken from her family in the wilds of Africa when she was only a baby, Ruby was shuffled first from an adventure safari to a circus, and then to the Los Angeles Zoo in 1987. After 16 years of forming a close bond with her enclosure-mate Gita, Ruby was shipped to another zoo in Tennessee, but was transferred back to L.A. only a year and a half later after efforts to integrate Ruby failed. Since Gita died in June 2006, Ruby has been all alone, which is cruel treatment for this highly social species.
“We are very grateful that Mr. Barker, a great champion for animals, has stepped forward to help Ruby,” said Elliot M. Katz, DVM, president of IDA. “An elephant sanctuary can give Ruby the stable, permanent home she deserves after a lifetime of upheaval and forced separations. It’s crucial that Ruby be sent to a sanctuary now.”
For more information see www.helpelephants.com.
* Experts include Les Schobert, former Curator at the Los Angeles Zoo, veterinarian Mel Richardson, Pat Derby and Ed Stewart, founders of the Performing Animal Welfare Society, and Madeleine Bernstein, president of SPCA-LA.