Richard Pryor Makes Independence Day Plea for Elephants
Denying Elephants’ Freedom No Laughing Matter to Comedian

Los Angeles — As the nation reflects on freedom and liberty, comedian and L.A. resident Richard Pryor has sent a holiday appeal to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urging him to send Billy, Gita, and Ruby, the elephants at L.A. Zoo, to a sanctuary and permanently close the Zoo’s elephant exhibit. 

L.A. Zoo, like most urban zoos, is incapable of providing the vast acreage necessary to accommodate elephants’ need to move over varied terrains, which is essential for their physical well-being. Elephants in zoos spend their time inactive in tiny enclosures, standing on concrete or hard compacted dirt which leads to extremely painful degenerative joint disorders and recurrent foot infections, as well as digestive and reproductive problems. At Los Angeles Zoo, 47-year-old Gita suffers from life-threatening arthritis and foot problems – the leading causes of euthanasia in captive elephants. As the world’s largest land mammal, elephants are designed for almost constant movement, and wild elephant herds can easily travel tens of miles a day on soft soil and varied terrains. 

Mayor Villaraigosa took a very strong pro-elephant stance during his election campaign, making it clear that he would work for transfer of the elephants at L.A. Zoo to a sanctuary and permanent closure of the Zoo’s elephant exhibit. “I have believed for some time that a zoo is not an appropriate place for an animal as large as an elephant,” Villaraigosa told a reporter for NBC. “I think we need to move the elephants out.” 

Pryor hopes his appeal will make the elephants’ transfer a priority. “I made a choice to be an entertainer but these animals did not. It is our responsibility to ensure Ruby, Gita and Billy enjoy the highest quality of life that can only be found at a sanctuary,” Pryor writes. “Unlike any zoos, two accredited elephant sanctuaries in the U.S. provide elephants with access to hundreds of acres where they can roam and relieve the painful foot infections and arthritis developed from years of standing on hard soil and concrete.”

Pryor’s letter to Mayor Villaraigosa follows. Please visit SaveZooElephants.com for more information.

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Richard Pryor Enterprises
4900 Valjean Ave.
Encino, CA 91436
www.RichardPryor.com
818-905-7882

Jennifer Lee Pryor
President

July 4, 2005

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
City Hall 
200 N. Spring Street, Rm. 303
Los Angeles, CA 90012


Dear Mayor Villaraigosa:

We understand you are a friend to animals and that is why we are writing on behalf of our friends at In Defense of Animals (IDA) to express support for sending Billy, Gita, and Ruby, the elephants at Los Angeles Zoo, to a sanctuary and permanently closing the Zoo’s pachyderm exhibit.

As residents of Los Angeles, we think it’s outrageous that of the 12 elephants who died at L.A. Zoo since 1975, at least half never lived to see their 20th birthday. In the wild, elephants can live to be 70 years or older. Even worse, the suffering continues: Gita has painful chronic foot infections and arthritis – the leading causes of euthanasia in elephants in captivity. Billy’s abnormal behavior of repetitively bobbing his head up and down is a stress reaction to his barren, unstimulating environment. Ruby shares a small off-exhibit enclosure next to Gita, while she waits to be moved, yet again, to another zoo. And Tara, who died last December, suffered from extremely painful arthritis prior to her untimely death.

Elephants are Earth’s largest land mammal, and they require a vast amount of acreage to maintain physical and psychological health. L.A. Zoo is incapable of providing this type of space within its confines. To provide even 15 acres – which is still not much by elephant standards – L.A. Zoo would have to commit more than a quarter of its present exhibit space to elephants. In the wild, elephants move for 18 hours a day and travel 30 to 50 miles a day. 

As the nation reflects on freedom and liberty today, please consider making this the last Independence Day these magnificent animals have to spend in a barren cell. Unlike any zoos, two accredited elephant sanctuaries in the U.S. provide elephants with access to hundreds of acres where they can roam and relieve the painful foot infections and arthritis developed from years of standing on hard soil and concrete. I made a choice to be an entertainer but these animals did not. It is our responsibility to ensure Ruby, Gita and Billy enjoy the highest quality of life that can only be found at a sanctuary. Please make the decision to send them to a sanctuary without delay. 


Thank you for giving this matter your consideration.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” 
-Martin Luther King

Sincerely yours,

Richard and Jennifer Lee Pryor