Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens Los Angeles Zoo News 2025

Lori Patton said:
Earlier today it was announced that one of the L.A. City councilmembers introduced a motion to temporarily halt the elephants' move to the Tulsa Zoo until a thorough study can be conducted to determine the best place for Billy and Tina. If approved, the L.A. Zoo will have 30 days to prepare a report to be reviewed and voted on by the full city council. Here is a link to the article:
Councilman Says LA Zoo Should Consider All Options for Asian Elephants’ Relocation - The San Fernando Valley Sun

This councilman has previously been instrumental in removing the pony rides and petting zoo elsewhere in Griffith Park as well as spearheading a ban on rodeos. While I don't typically agree with his politics, I do think that the zoo should be more forthcoming in its decision process and take into consideration the overriding opinion of Angelenos for the elephant exhibit. Also, since the exhibit comprises a sizable section of the zoo, the leadership should disclose what the plan is for that space and when it will be completed. Unfortunately, it has been the practice of the zoo for the past five years or so to abandon exhibits after the animals pass on and leave the spaces empty (e.g. lion, bear, etc.). Hopefully, the councilman's motion will impel the zoo to provide more accountability for its decisions.
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Much like @Coelacanth18, I’ll hard disagree with this. I’m not going to pretend and act that the zoo isn’t in a rough patch, it is. Many of the star attractions are gone and haven’t been replaced for the most part but that’s something not feasible until their Vision Plan is in motion. Many of the habitats are indeed outdated, some unchanged since the late 60’s. The same council member was the one who proposed the investigation of the passing of Shaunzi and Jewel, two geriatric elephants. As if their passing was so suspicious, only that they coincidentally passed away somewhat close to one another. Jewel was more than 60 and Shaunzi at least 53. Council member Blumenfield is certainly the last person on the council I’d give a pass to. He was very gleeful at keeping single home zoning and not finding a solution for the many Angelenos struggling to pay rent. Yet this is his passion. Of course I miss the star attractions the zoo had and I’m going to sorely miss Billy and Tina. I’ve known Billy all my life since I was a child.

But we also have to see the situation the zoo is in. They’re under the overbearing hand of the city, the zoo can’t breathe without city council being down their throats. Also, the captive care of elephants is a hotly debated topic amongst people concerned about animal welfare/rights. There were many days on weekends that protesters would literally scream at families just for going in. It’s an uphill battle for the zoo and one that’s sorely underfunded to be able to import a fresh batch of elephants similar to Cincinnati. Until LA City council can get behind backing their own zoo and starting initiatives to fast track the Vision Plan, guests will continue to see loss of major attractions as the zoo is in dire need of a revamp. You and I love our home zoo, my fiancé loves going there when she visits me. I want my home zoo to be given the support from the city to make the necessary improvements so it can to rise to ranks of San Diego, Bronx, and Omaha. A goal I think the zoo is capable of but not in its current state.
 
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tigris115 said:
Yeah this to me seems like the Toronto situation all over again, which was the worst handling of an elephant move I've seen and I think the AZA shouldn't be putting up with this
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The issue is that with Dan Ashe involved and TES being AZA accredited, I could so see the AZA suddenly having no problem with animal decisions being made by a city council - so long as said elephants are headed to TES as opposed to PAWS (non-AZA).
 
AZA/the elephant TAGs/SSPs really ought to have policies in place that all elephants being placed at TES *must* be reproductively non-viable. They really should have something in TES's accreditation agreement that they can't accept valuable animals from AZA facilities unless it's an extremely extenuating circumstance. It totally creates a weird position with the SSP having TES absorb valuable animals into a facility blackhole, whilst all being subsidiaries of the AZA umbrella.
 
DavidBrown said:
The former nursery area in the children's zoo has been converted to an axolotl space. There is a big tank for the axolotls surrounded by a cool mural of axolotls in the wild that covers up most of the former nursery.
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that's so cool how does it look like? the exhibit I mean
 
DavidBrown said:
The mural is really cool. The tank is similar to the one that they were in in the cave, so not much change there really, except the location is different. The axolotls are still adorable.
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The New Location is more accessible and visible to Visitors who frequent the area more compared to their old location, where few or no people visit the caves area.
 
Thomas said:
The New Location is more accessible and visible to Visitors who frequent the area more compared to their old location, where few or no people visit the caves area.
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Very true. When I went in the cave a few weeks ago most of the lights were out. It seems like they are in the process of shutting that area down. That part of the zoo is really shabby now that most of it has been abandoned. The tamanduas, sloth, and axolotls in the nursery complex are the exception.
 
PercideRolo said:
Was not on my Bingo Card to have them move Billy, but Tulsa will be a great choice with their massive barn and yards. Shame to have such an iconic animal leave. The barn is huge and I’m sure the smartest and best route would be to move the giraffe herd. Multiple yards and all. Maybe bring back Hippo and African Rhino. Last but not least, a functional, larger lion habitat!
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yeah and they can turn the old zebra yard for a Mandrill/red river hog mix exhibit and the old addax/ostrich/hog exhibit can be a hyena and cheetah exhibit fingers crossed
 
Westcoastperson said:
A lawsuit has been raised against the zoo (with Director Verret as a defendant) to halt the elephants move to Tulsa as opposed to a sanctuary. Protestors outside of the zoo Sunday argued the three sanctuaries that have offered to take the animals in should be chosen.
As L.A. resident sues zoo over Billy and Tina, Cher says elephants have 'served their time'
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"Served their time". Unbelievably shallow, these activists don't care about Billy and Tina, they care about satisfying their own egos. At least Friends of the Philadelphia Zoo Elephants got Bette and Kallie toys while advocating for them to be sent to a sanctuary, what are *these* abecedarians doing? (Also, where's Slash when you need him, considering he was a GLAZA trustee and advocated for Billy's stay at LA...)
 
StoppableSan said:
"Served their time". Unbelievably shallow, these activists don't care about Billy and Tina, they care about satisfying their own egos. At least Friends of the Philadelphia Zoo Elephants got Bette and Kallie toys while advocating for them to be sent to a sanctuary, what are *these* abecedarians doing? (Also, where's Slash when you need him, considering he was a GLAZA trustee and advocated for Billy's stay at LA...)
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It's funny because Cher's Free The Wild organization's website says "FTW endeavours to stop the suffering of wild animals in captivity and ultimately find a way to release them into sanctuaries or better equipped zoos."

And Tulsa isn't a better equipped zoo? I'd say LA would be well equipped to house Elephants if it weren't for a myriad of problems facing them at the moment...

And exactly how much money do Cher and FTW donate to wildlife conservation? It just seems to me like they're just hardcore zoo haters who would be opposed to the move, even if Tulsa had hundreds of acres of land for elephants...
 
Westcoastperson said:
A lawsuit has been raised against the zoo (with Director Verret as a defendant) to halt the elephants move to Tulsa as opposed to a sanctuary. Protestors outside of the zoo Sunday argued the three sanctuaries that have offered to take the animals in should be chosen.
As L.A. resident sues zoo over Billy and Tina, Cher says elephants have 'served their time'
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This makes me wish that the zoo community can fight as well. I’m unsure why can’t the AZA organization, other zoos like Tulsa especially counter these arguments. I wished we had more people like Betty White and Jack Hanna because I know these two for sure would be advocating for the elephants and zoo. Makes me very sad and horrified for the future of these activists brats are able to keep getting their way and abolish elephants at zoos (they’re already very close with orcas) and then next they go with apes, bears, big cats, and then more, these can’t be allowed and experts should make decisions not them! They’ve (granted not these at LA) already ruined the Antibes orca move to a better place for crying out loud! As mentioned, these ppl really think they care about animals but reality they know jack sh*t about true animal welfare.
 
peruvianbirdie said:
. Makes me very sad and horrified for the future of these activists brats are able to keep getting their way and abolish elephants at zoos (they’re already very close with orcas) and then next they go with apes, bears, big cats, and then more, these can’t be allowed and experts should make decisions not them!
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You're giving them too much credit. :p As loud as these anti-zoo activists are, they're rarely successful at getting zoos to bend the knee to their demands. Just a few months ago an AR group lost their ninth consecutive court case trying to force Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to transfer it's elephants to sanctuaries. I'm sure the constant protests and outcry from groups like these didn't help things, but Los Angeles Zoo's decision to ship Billy and Tina out is grounded in the fact that the U.S. Asian elephant population isn't doing well and consolidations need to be made. Orcas are a different story entirely.

I do agree however that this a tremendous waste of time, money, and resources for all parties. Then again, most of these people involved with the "Non-human Rights Project" must be financial comfortable enough to avoiding working real jobs. ;)
 
pachyderm pro said:
As loud as these anti-zoo activists are, they're rarely successful at getting zoos to bend the knee to their demands.
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Yeah, and in some senses it's almost comical at times. LA is finally sending out their elephants to a bigger facility where Billy and Tina can live with other elephants, which is what the activists have been pushing for decades. But because it's a zoo, the activists are now trying to force the pair to stay in LA unless they go to a place the activists want. They've literally flipped positions in the blink of an eye despite technically achieving their goal in a way. Though as a general rule they're only good at wasting people's time and money and blocking what's best for the animals, which is not at all comical. If they actually wanted to do something to benefit animals there's plenty of options out there, none of which involve the LA Zoo.
 
A judge today denied a request on halting Billy and Tina's departure to Tulsa.

Judge Denies Bid to Block Zoo’s Transfer of Elephants to Tulsa

"A judge Thursday declined a Los Angeles resident's request for a restraining order that would have put a temporary stop on a bid by the Los Angeles Zoo to transfer aging elephants Billy and Tina to the Tulsa Zoo, where local zoo officials say the animals would have more room to roam.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant said the issue would be better handled through the City Council rather than in the courts.

Plaintiff John Kelly had sought the TRO pending a hearing on a preliminary injunction. Kelly said the beasts should instead be transferred to an animal sanctuary.

Kelly said in a sworn declaration that he donated $50 to the LA Zoo based on an announcement that Tina and Billy would be going to a "preserve" similar to a sanctuary, only to find out later that the truth was otherwise.
"I learned from ... my own research of various sources that, at the Tulsa Zoo, the elephants would be subject to the same inhumane conditions from which they had suffered and continued to suffer at the LA Zoo," Kelly said in a sworn declaration. "In other words, I was duped."

Kelly further says that it became "apparent to me that the LA Zoo had deliberately misrepresented the location to which it had decided to relocate Billy and Tina in order to falsely pass it off as an accredited elephant preserve or sanctuary where the two elephants would be able to recover from their physical and mental trauma."

But in her own sworn declaration, LA Zoo Director Denise Verret says the zoo's announcement about the transfer of Billy and Tina was "completely truthful and accurate. We were upfront that Billy and Tina are moving to another zoo -- the Tulsa Zoo."



The Tulsa Zoo itself refers to its newly expanded elephant habitat as the "Family Elephant Experience and Elephant Preserve," according to Verret.


Tina is owned by the San Diego Zoo, which has already transferred ownership to the Tulsa Zoo, and the Tulsa Zoo has already made arrangements for her transfer, Verret further says.

"If the transfer is blocked, the Los Angeles Zoo potentially faces claims from the Tulsa Zoo or San Diego Zoo, according to Verret.

Following Thursday's hearing, Kelly's attorney, Melissa Lerner, told reporters the public should reach out to city officials and urge them to block the elephants' transfer to Tulsa. She also said Mayor Karen Bass should step in and prevent the move.

"She has the power to intervene and prevent their transfer before it's too late," Lerner said, adding that Kelly will continue to fight to stop the move.

An animal-rights advocate who attended the hearing told reporters she does not believe there's enough space at the Tulsa facility to properly house the elephants.

"I really believe they want to take Billy to this other zoo to breed him," Patty Shenker said."
 
The amount of legal challenges and red tape two AZA accredited zoos have to go through to transfer animals is ridiculous. A sign of the wider problems in California. Whether it’s moving an elephant, digging a subway, or building a house, there seems to be no end to the bureaucracy.
 
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