LOS ANGELES (Sept. 30, 2024) — In a special meeting on Sept. 16, the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks shamefully introduced animal models to replace pony rides at Griffith Park. Just days later, on September 19, Los Angeles Alliance for Animals delivered a letter to the Recreation and Parks board and council members to choose a non-animal model. The letter, signed by over 12,000 passionate individuals in just a few weeks, reveals the strength of opposition to the cruel use of animals for entertainment. In total, more than 25,000 people have signed alerts from In Defense of Animals voicing opposition to animal models at Griffith Park, including Los Angeleno Never Have I Ever actress, Richa Moorjani. 

The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks hired consulting firm Placeworks to gather community feedback. In the report presented by the firm on Sept. 16, it  misleadingly claimed that 7 out of 10 Los Angeles residents want pony rides in the city, without providing the context of animal cruelty that occured at the previous pony rides and how the concession shut down due to it. Six geriatric ponies remain unaccounted for, and four ponies died under unknown circumstances, with the City of Los Angeles refusing to investigate. If residents knew this crucial context, they would have responded differently to the survey.

Recreation and Parks is following the same deceptive playbook as when it hired Dr. Sachar, an equine veterinarian who claimed conditions were satisfactory at the Griffith Park Pony Rides and Petting Zoo when they were not. Since 2021, thousands of people have reached out to Los Angeles officials demanding a non-animal model. Placeworks skewed the data collection process to silence the voices of concerned Los Angeles residents. 

In December 2022, the Griffith Park Pony Rides and Petting Zoo shut down after 74 years in operation following investigations and campaigns that exposed elderly ponies being overworked and denied clean water. Since then, animal rights advocates and local citizens have been pushing for a non-animal model to replace the former concession, arguing that any model involving animals would result in exploitation for profit.

“Recreation and Parks and Councilmember Raman should be ashamed that, despite egregious animal cruelty, they continue to propose the possibility of animal concessions that compassionate Los Angeles voters do not want,” said Zohra Fahim, President and Founder of Los Angeles Alliance for Animals. “Los Angeles residents do not want to see animal cruelty in city parks. Animal models are nothing more than cruelty dressed as entertainment, and forcing animals to perform amidst large, noisy crowds can never be humane for these sensitive animals.”

“The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and the city council have an ethical responsibility to respect the overwhelming opposition to animal attractions at Griffith Park,” said Brittany Michelson, Campaign Specialist for Captive Animals at In Defense of Animals. “Teaching kids to treat animals as entertainment has no place in Los Angeles. We demand that city officials respect the overwhelming public opposition and commit to a humane alternative that does not involve animals instead of pushing this unpopular, unethical proposal to return animal exploitation to Griffith Park.” 

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Contacts:

• In Defense of Animals: Brittany Michelson, (928) 420-0727 brittany@idausa.org  
• Los Angeles Alliance for Animals: Zohra Fahim, (619) 964-0981 Alliance.for.animals2021@gmail.com 

Letter to LA Dept of Recreation & Parks:

To: Department of Recreation and Parks, Los Angeles Councilmembers and Mayor Karen Bass

RE: Animals Shouldn’t be Brought Back to Griffith Park

I deeply care about the well-being of animals and as one of over 250,000 In Defense of Animals supporters, I urge you to replace the Griffith Park Pony Rides and Petting Zoo with a non-animal model and ban all animal entertainment in the city of Los Angeles.

Pony rides and other animal exhibits inadvertently but routinely cause chronic animal suffering as a byproduct of their existence. Profits become the primary concern and animal welfare lags way behind as shown by the previous business that conducted pony rides in the park. Additionally, these sorts of entertainment venues teach children that animals are carnival equipment and are here for our entertainment and that the animals’ welfare is secondary to children’s interest in using them for their own purposes. We must teach children compassion toward animals, and that does not involve a concession that uses/exploits animals. 

Los Angeles Alliance for Animals had documented egregious animal cruelty at the site of the pony rides and petting zoo, while the Department of Recreation and Parks has also failed to look into the six elderly ponies that Stephan Weeks allegedly transferred after strong concern for their well being was expressed by animal advocates. The USDA, which regulated the petting zoo at the pony rides, required its operators to report back on the location where animals were transferred. These same standards should have been required for the geriatric ponies.

L.A. Animal Services is in a state of crisis and doesn’t have the time or resources to monitor the treatment of vulnerable animals at a municipal park. These problems underscore a pressing need for intervention and change. Committing to a business model that doesn’t rely on animals is the only way to ensure that no more animals will be neglected or exploited in the park.

Please ensure that the site of the former pony rides is that of a non-animal model to prevent more animals from suffering. Thank you for considering an ethical option and for all that you do for the City of Los Angeles.

Signed: 12,194 In Defense of Animals supporters

Original images & video 

Courtesy of Los Angeles Alliance for Animals: https://bit.ly/GriffPkPonies

Videos

• Cancel the Contract: Griffith Park Pony Rides & Petting Zoo https://youtu.be/T49fDUjig4g
• Retire Suffering Ponies From Griffith Park Pony Rides & Petting Zoo https://youtu.be/ctS_h0jVTSM

Organizations

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization based in Marin County, California, with over 250,000 supporters and a 40-year history of fighting for animals, people, and the environment through education and campaigns, as well as its hands-on rescue facilities in California, India, South Korea, and rural Mississippi. www.idausa.org

Los Angeles Alliance for Animals is one of the only equine protection groups in Los Angeles dedicated to eliminating horse and pony abuse. Its groundbreaking work has brought exposure to the unjust and unfair treatment of geriatric ponies and farmed animals at Griffith Park and Pony Ride and Petting Zoo, and the group is committed to getting justice and ensuring other animals are never again neglected in the City of Los Angeles, and the rest of the nation. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076422702309