A growing chorus is calling for Billy and Tina’s freedom, from a compassionate 10-year-old boy with a personal connection to Billy, to legendary actor Samuel L. Jackson. Together with advocates, public officials, and supporters across the country, they are urging the Tulsa Zoo to stop confining these long-suffering elephants and send them to a true sanctuary, where they can finally live with space, dignity, and peace.

Legendary mega star Samuel L Jackson adds his powerful voice to the host of celebrities, government officials, and activists to give Billy and Tina the freedom that was denied to them by the Los Angeles Zoo. Now at the Tulsa Zoo, on our list of 10 worst zoos for elephants, these two elephants are enduring yet another stifling, deprived existence at a zoo instead of a true sanctuary.

“Billy and Tina have sanctuaries willing to take them in,” said the producer and one of the world’s highest-grossing actors, Samuel L. Jackson. “Continued exploitation and denial of their freedom is making them worse, and time is running out! Join me in supporting In Defense of Animals and urge the Tulsa Zoo to retire these elephants before it’s too late.” 

Nick Wilson, a young voice with a big heart, learned about Billy’s story from his grandmother, Cara Ganat-Wilson, Billy’s keeper when he arrived at the Los Angeles Zoo from Malaysia as a 4-year-old calf. She knew him not as a headline, but as a living, feeling being. We’ve shared her memories before, stories of connection, care, and the promise of a better life.

Nick asks for what Billy has been waiting nearly four decades to know: freedom. Not another enclosure, not another relocation, but a vast, natural, true sanctuary where Billy can walk on open land, feel the sun without barriers, and live as the elephant he was born to be.

Nick’s letter to the Tulsa Zoo (edited for spelling & punctuation):

Why Billy needs to be in a sanctuary.

Dear people… What you are doing to Billy is unacceptable. You might think he is happy and is having a great time in that Tulsa Zoo, but he is not: he is sad, and bored, and has no place to roam. If you want him to be happy, then I suggest that you should put him in a sanctuary. Now I’m not trying to be mean cause maybe you think that he is happy. He really is not. If Billy could talk, I think he would say, “Get me out of this crazy place,” and if you can’t see that, then maybe you need a new pair of glasses. Listen to everybody else; they think that he should be in a sanctuary, EVEN FAMOUS PEOPLE!!! If Billy doesn’t go in a sanctuary like RIGHT NOW, then he will die depressed. My grandma used to work with Billy; she thinks that he should be in a sanctuary, and she wrote a lot of letters to you about how Billy should be in a sanctuary. Do this for me and everybody else, and especially Billy. SAVE THAT CUTE ELEPHANT.

Name: Nicholas Jackson Wilson
Age: 10 years old
Date: 3-15-2026

We are deeply grateful to Samuel and Nick for their courage and compassion. Their voices remind us that it’s never too late to do what is right.

Now, the question remains:

Will Billy and Tina finally be given the life they deserve?

Make calls and sign here to free Billy, Tina, and all the elephants who are suffering at the Tulsa Zoo.