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

[bagnshoofetish]

I'm home now! They moved our issue up from #30 on the agenda to #1! So here is the update:

The city council seemed more concerned over how Billy's new exhibit was being funded more than any other issue concerning his welfare. The council would like to see LA Zoo and its fund raising arm GLAZA, come up with the balance to complete the expansion rather than use public general funds. We are cool with that because GLAZA is awesome when it comes to raising funds - no one does it better! But even if we are able to come up with the remainder needed (which I have no doubt we will) the animal rights people are still going to fight us but at least we have more time now to educate people about Billy and the care he receives (and that includes educating the animal rights people) and how this expansion is going to be the best thing for him. If we truly believed Billy should be moved, we as keepers would be first in line fighting for that to happen. But it's unnecessary. So while we may have won this battle, we still have a long road ahead of us and still need your support. Please continue to write to the council and inform others about what is going on. You can always refer people to me if they have any questions.
Thanks again you guys. This is a slight relief for now.

[dallas]

That's brilliant! How long do you have to come up with the remainder of the funds? Can the general public donate some moolah?

[bagnshoofetish]

Originally Posted by dallas

That's brilliant! How long do you have to come up with the remainder of the funds? Can the general public donate some moolah?

The general public can always donate. Click on this link:
http://www.lazoo.org/support/

I'm not sure there is a timeline to come up with the remainder, there just has to be a plan drawn up by the end of January. Its so frustrating. 79% of the residents of Los Angeles are in complete favor of having his new yards/barns finished. Its going to be so beautiful when its done and he's gonna have so much more to do and enjoy. I wish they would just let us finish the darn thing!

[bag-mania]

Sounds like Billy got a reprieve. It is a good sign if they didn't seem too concerned about the animal rights people at the meeting.

[bagnshoofetish]

Originally Posted by bag-mania

Sounds like Billy got a reprieve. It is a good sign if they didn't seem too concerned about the animal rights people at the meeting.

yes but its not over yet. what I would really like to see? the animal rights people work with us instead of against us. they have so much money and so much power, I wish they would instead use those resources to help educate people and save the Asian Elephants in Indonesia. They are the ones who are suffering. There are only some 30,000 left in the world. Every day they have to deal with poachers or poachers snares (cut off trunks, infected leg wounds that kill them slowly and painfully), farmers shooting at them due to land encroachment (looking for food because their sources are depleted and migration routes cut off) and on and on. Billy is living a plush life compared to these poor animals. And not many people hear about it because the African Elephant gets more press. They are in need too but their numbers are at almost half a million and the African government actually culls them because the reserves cannot accomodate the numbers. How messed up is that? We take good care of Billy and plan to take even better care of him. What I wish the animal rights people would focus on are the animals in the wild who have no voice.

[dallas]

Do the animal rights people think that Billy is being mistreated or are they concerned that he doesn't have enough space ... or both?

[shushopn]

Keep us posted, hon!

[candace117]

omg hugs to Billy!!!!!! I loooove heffalumps. Sorry I came to this thread a bit late - I am thinking of you all. I went to the LA Zoo a lot as a kid and I love it (along with the Sacramento Zoo )

Tell me what more I can do to help - anything at all.

[chessmont]

*

[chessmont]

Originally Posted by bagnshoofetish

yes but its not over yet. what I would really like to see? the animal rights people work with us instead of against us. they have so much money and so much power, I wish they would instead use those resources to help educate people

It will never ever happen.

PETA, H$U$ and the like are called "conflict industries" They only survive and get gazilllions of moolah by creating conflict. Cooperate, act sane, help we animal welfare workers, and their industry goes away, and there goes WAyne Pacelle (head of H$U$'s) $500,000 per year salary.

http://www.furcommission.com/news/newsF03i.htm

This article summarizes an award winning journalist's series in the Sacrament Bee about conflict industrialists in the animal rights and eco-rights 'industries'. For those of you opposed to fur, disregard the URL name, , and please read it because all it is doing is reporting on the excellent series of articles.

I don't know if the new edition is out yet, but you should read the book, "Hijacking of the Humane Movement: Animal Extremism," by Patti Strand. Your eyes will truly be opened. I'm saying 'your' in general, animal lovers out there, who think their donations to these groups are actually used to care for animals.

Read up on these things, learn what is really going on and what these supposed non-profits' goals are, and helping Billy and other like situations may be solved by we reasonable people proactively, rather than always having to put out fires of the hysterical animal rights' screaming... always reacting, instead we should be setting the standards and making the laws, not the fruitcakes. know your legislators and make your opinions known to them, among other things. Give them facts, which are much different than the emotion-driven rantings and writings of the ARses.

If even 1 person reading this today 'gets' it and begins to educate themselves. I will be a happy woman. And when you do become educated, talk to friends, family and neighbors. There are millions of us and relatively few AR activists. We have less money, but we have many more voices if we speak up.

Hooray for Billy! Now I hope he can get the new place that he needs!

BAgnshooo, were you pelted, screamed at, etc.? Were there lots of fanatics protesting outside today? Any on the pro-Billy side out there picketing? Just curious.

[lilpursekitty]

I hope everything works out with the elephant, Bagnshoo! And I was interested in reading the article, chessmont. I follow the blog of a vet who is a friend of a friend; she's one of the most passionate and vocal advocates for animals that I've ever encountered, and she puts her time/money where her mouth is. She frequently takes in rescues, provides free vet services for abandoned animals, does her best to educate callous owners - she's an intelligent and admirable woman. And she hates, HATES, PETA. One PETA action she blogs about this time of year is a scam asking people to donate money in order to provide doghouses for dogs without them. PETA takes the money, buys doghouses, then supposedly distributes them to dogs in need. What does PETA list as the cost to provide one doghouse? $265. The vet is quick to note that a quality Dogloo AND a 50 pound bag of generic food for a needy dog will run the average consumer about $50. So what is PETA doing with the extra cash? Who knows! She advocates bypassing PETA and giving that food and dogloo to a needy family in your area or donating food directly to a humane society.

[redney]

Shoo, I'm late to the thread but am sending you and your Zoo colleagues and Billy all good wishes for him to get the funding for his new home at the LA Zoo

keep us posted!

[bagnshoofetish]

Originally Posted by dallas

Do the animal rights people think that Billy is being mistreated or are they concerned that he doesn't have enough space ... or both?

both. he is the healthiest elephant who if you could just see him with them, loves his keepers. they misuse information about elephants needing miles and miles of space but they don't put it in context. elephants travel for days and miles looking for food, water, salt, mud and to stay ahead of the weather. nature has designed this for other reasons too. once they have decimated the vegetation in one area, they need to move on to find more. but in doing so, they become "seed despersers" (in their poop) as they travel, allowing vegetation to grow throughout their range. there is a big domino effect resulting from their travels. the new exhibit will be over 3 acres, and once he finally trusts venturing out into it (which will take time) he is going to find one or two places as his faves to hang. We will still excercise him as we do now. Only now, he will have more ground to cover and believe me, he's gonna get a little fussy about it but its something we have to and want to encourage him to do. they are big animals. they do not like to expend any more energy than they have to. when you see wild elephants on t.v., what do you end up seeing them do the most? standing around eating, shooing flies, feeling each other with their trunks, laying in the mud (their MOST favorite thing to do) or foraging for food. Once they find a few good trees, they ain't movin' till that entire tree is gone. They don't like his head bobbing which for the life of me can't understand why, he does it in anticipation of events of the day he knows are coming and has done this since he was a baby. He came from Malaysia (orphaned) and the keepers who picked him up way back then said he bobbed his head then! Its just his "thing" and I wish people would leave him alone. It makes him happy. And yes, the activists keep saying he is abused which they have nothing to back the statement up with though we keep asking and they claim he has foot problems which he does not!!! We show photos and show them in person and they still stick to their lies. They are also mad that 12 elephants have died in the zoo since 1975. Well, duh! Animals die. They don't live forever. And all our elephants who died in the last 34 years have died of old age related illness. I don't know how long they expect any animal to live? The fact is, elephants in captivity live as long if not longer than elephants in the wild. And that is because they do get medical care when they need it. (Some of the people who were complaining were actually complaining about what it costs to take care of them. Well who cares what it costs? They are worth every penny!) The average lifespan is about 60 years or so but not many make it that far, it is rare. Just like we humans can live 100+ years, not many of us make it either. Animals get sick. Animals can have genetic disorders. But they try to make that a direct result of abuse. So I guess every human who has gotten ill or dies prematurely is also abused? Its just a stupid stupid thing to perpetuate. If we abused Billy, trust me, he would not put up with it. none of us is any match for a powerful 15,000lb animal. we believe in positive reinforcement with every animal at the zoo. back in the 70s and even as late as the 80s some not so cool stuff was going on with them but that was then and this is now. They just love to take scraps of half truths and bits of old info and completely distort the truth. Arg. I'm so frustrated. Sorry if I've repeated myself here.

[bagnshoofetish]

Originally Posted by chessmont

BAgnshooo, were you pelted, screamed at, etc.? Were there lots of fanatics protesting outside today? Any on the pro-Billy side out there picketing? Just curious.

No thankfully we were not. But I almost got into it with one of them. Some woman started in on how he doesn't have enough space that he needs, get this, 2300 square miles of space! Really? He needs more space than the state of Rhode Island???? Well, she didn't like that. Then I asked her if she understood how risky it is to move an elephant and how there is a possibility that he may not make the trip and she smacked her lips at me and said, "oh they move elephants ALL THE TIME!." I said, yeah, circus elephants that do that all their life. I told her how Ruby was used to travel and thats why she made the trip so easily but Billy hasn't travelled since he was 4 and he is 24 now. She just grunted and turned around and walked away. This is what we are dealing with. People who refuse to listen because in the end its not about Billy, its about their ego and the very real possibility that they could be wrong.

And oh yeah, the pro-Billy side (our side) was huge and very loud. more private citizens than zoo personnel.

[bagnshoofetish]

Originally Posted by redney

Shoo, I'm late to the thread but am sending you and your Zoo colleagues and Billy all good wishes for him to get the funding for his new home at the LA Zoo keep us posted!

Thank you my friend.