Please - help us keep our beloved elephant....

[bagnshoofetish]

Thank you so much you guys. It means the world to me.

[chessmont]

Originally Posted by dallas

This is probably a stupid question but who "owns" Billy? Do the animal wrongs people have any "claim" on him? There doesn't seem to be any sense in this, surely he is better off where he is, where he is loved and properly looked after? What can I do from Australia? Anything? I'll help if I can. Hugs girl.

-Love that term, "animal wrongs" instead of the usual Animal Rights. I just call them ARses, myself. Take out the R, add an s, and it fits perfectly.

They have no claim on him, but LA is under constant, HUGE pressure from ARses 24/7. 365 days a year. Lots of corrupt sh^& going on in LAAS (LA Animal Services)They have the ignorant help of brainwashed Hollywood celebrities and their $$$$$ to affect what happens there in the SOCal area. I'll email wherever I have to, to help you keep your beloved elephant.

[bagnshoofetish]

Originally Posted by chessmont

They have the ignorant help of brainwashed Hollywood celebrities and their $$$$$ to affect what happens there. I'll email wherever I have to, to help you keep your beloved elephant.

Thanks Chess. I'll never understand why people will listen to what an actor has to say about wild animal welfare as opposed to someone who has years of experience studying and working with wild animals. I guess I should pursue acting instead of a wildlife science degree cause then I would be a qualified expert on animal behavior and their care.

[bagnshoofetish]

And to elaborate here there is a huge difference between animal "rights" and animal welfare. Animal rights are an unrealistic, anthropomorphic point of view concerning the needs of animals. It is quite often fueled more by emotion rather than logic and whats truly best for animals. Animal welfare gets into the intrinsics of what it takes to care for animals and their longterm conservation. It holds a healthier respect for nature and understanding the dynamics of animal behavior which is way more complex species by species than looking at an animal and saying, "that animal looks unhappy or that animal looks sad." They pretty much have the same facial expression 24/7. Only humans and apes have the facial muscle capacity to show emotion. And it takes a lot of skill and animal sense to read when an animal is unhappy or in distress and it doesn't always have much to do with facial features all the time.
The real bummer here is while I believe the animal rights people like animals, I sure wish they would work on the things we really need. They have so much power and money and it would be great if they would work with us instead of against us. We afterall basically have the common goal of caring for animals don't we? You would think.

[bagnshoofetish]

Again, there has been talk going around about maybe changing the name of our "zoo" to a "sanctuary" cause sometimes it just all seems to be about semantics. When you think about it, many of our animals ARE rescues or rehabs from the wild or confiscations from the illegal pet trade at LAX or my favorite, simply a dumping ground for the morons who realized that hey, maybe its not a good idea to keep a chimp, tiger, alligator, lion, bear, etc. as a pet. We are expected to have endless space to adopt all these animals and do what we can but sadly we cannot accomodate every animal simply because some doofus can't handle it anymore and oh yeah, is illegal to have in the first place.

[chessmont]

Originally Posted by bagnshoofetish

The real bummer here is while I believe the animal rights people like animals, I sure wish they would work on the things we really need. They have so much power and money and it would be great if they would work with us instead of against us. We afterall basically have the common goal of caring for animals don't we? You would think.

bagnshoes, I am in 2000% agreement with the definition between AR and AW.

BUT, after 5 or more years fighting outrageous crap from AR designed to make eating meat, keeping agriculture and farms going, and keeping owning pets more costly and difficult, I and my colleagues in the trenches are convinced ARses do not love animals. They hate people, and want to punish us for enslavement of animals. We are the evil enslavers of animals, be it for food, pets or entertainment. We definitely do not have the same goals.

We can correspond PM if you'd like, I have references to quotes about the dichotomy of goals. CA is the worst state, for Animal Rights Bullsh*t, but it spreads from here. We can take it PM later, because the majority just doesn't 'get' it, and I believe there will be a lot of backlash to my post.

You get it.

Yeah, Bob Barker has more scientific, agriculture and veterinary medicine knowledge than the experts...Who knew?

For the record, I won't respond to any flaming here.

[bagnshoofetish]

^^^oh yeah, I forgot about adding "game show host" to my resume....

[chessmont]

Originally Posted by bagnshoofetish

^^^oh yeah, I forgot about adding "game show host" to my resume....

[Irishgal]

Just checking in via blackberry alone in my hotel room. Chessmont, I agree. Bags what time is the vote?

[bagnshoofetish]

^^^not sure. its going to be an all day ordeal I fear. we are leaving the zoo at 9am and downtown is just about 10 minutes from there. I'm expecting to be pelted with garbage upon arrival.

[dallas]

We're with you. Good luck.

[shushopn]

Totally thinking of you today!

[elle tee]

Good luck today!!

[chessmont]

Wishing you a victory!!! Praying here.

[ILuvShopping]

good luck!!! i hope they see how passionate and knowledgable you are about this