LOS ANGELES — One day after the Los Angeles Zoo announced its intention to relocate its last two remaining Asian elephants to a 17-acre preserve in Tulsa, Oklahoma, City Councilman Bob Blumenfield introduced a motion Wednesday calling for the zoo to hold off on the move until additional options are explored.
What You Need To Know
- Zoo officials would be instructed not to move the elephants or otherwise commit to where they will be relocated until the matter is discussed and voted on by the full council
- The matter will be heard at a future meeting of the council's Arts, Parks, Libraries and Community Enrichment Committee before being scheduled for the City Council
- The Tulsa Zoo is currently home to five Asian elephants
- The move "will allow Billy and Tina to continue receiving exceptional care with opportunities to integrate with a larger herd," according to the zoo
The motion would instruct zoo officials to report within 30 days on the relocation options for 40-year-old Billy and 59-year-old Tina, including U.S.-based sanctuaries accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, as well as other options.
Zoo officials would be instructed not to move the elephants or otherwise commit to where they will be relocated until the matter is discussed and voted on by the full council.
The matter will be heard at a future meeting of the council's Arts, Parks, Libraries and Community Enrichment Committee before being scheduled for the City Council.
"Since the zoo is a citywide asset, the Los Angeles City Council has vested interest in the relocation of its elephants. Therefore, all options should be considered by the council before a final decision about where Billy and Tina will be relocated," the motion reads.
The councilman said the zoo should consider the 3,060-acre Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, home to 12 elephants, or the Performing Animal Welfare Society in northern California, a 2,300-acre haven for retired captive wildlife.
"Elephants require large, dynamic environments, companionship, freedom of choice, and control over their lives," the motion reads. "When these essential needs are not met, they suffer great physical and psychological harm."
On Tuesday, zoo officials announced their decision to move the pair to the Elephant Experience and Preserve in Tulsa. They said the decision was made with the animals' care and well-being as the top priority, and the relocation "will afford them the opportunity to live among other elephants."
"The decision is driven by the LA Zoo's unwavering commitment to the health and wellbeing of all the animals in its care," according to a statement Tuesday from the zoo. "Following the move, the Zoo will pause its elephant program for the immediate future. The Zoo will continue to support Asian elephant conservation programs and the Elephants of Asia exhibit will be re-imagined for other suitable species and programming."
Zoo officials said they have been evaluating the elephant exhibit since the deaths of two other elephants — Jewel, age 61, in 2023, and Shaunzi, age 53, in 2024 — although they said those animals were in "declining health due to issues unrelated to the zoo's enclosure or care."
The Tulsa Zoo is currently home to five Asian elephants. The preserve covers 17 acres, including a 36,650-square-foot elephant barn and a 10-plus-acre wooded elephant preserve.
The move "will allow Billy and Tina to continue receiving exceptional care with opportunities to integrate with a larger herd," according to the zoo.
A date for the move has not been set.
Zoo officials also noted the decision was not impacted by the city's budget deficit, and it was reached in consultation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and its Elephant Species Survival Plan, as well as Taxon Advisory Group.
Courtney Scott, an elephant consultant for In Defense of Animals, said in an email to City News Service that she was disappointed by the decision to relocate the elephants to another zoo instead of a sanctuary, as they have been petitioning the LA Zoo to do for the last 20 years.
Scott said the Tulsa Zoo's exhibit is far from enough space to accommodate the needs of far-roaming elephants.
"These two elephants have been existing in a constricted, barren zoo exhibit for decades, enduring physical and mental suffering. It is really tragic that they are not getting the opportunity to live the rest of their lives as the wild, free elephants they were born to be," Scott said.
In March, philanthropist and retired trial lawyer David Casselman offered to fully fund the relocation and lifetime care of the elephants at the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary, a spacious refuge Casselman co-founded.
In his remarks, Casselman said the city doesn't have to pay anything, just get out of the way.
"We can crate Billy, we can take Tina with him, and we can move them to Cambodia — they'll have all the space in the most lovely existence for an elephant you can imagine," Casselman said. "All we need to do is convince the City Council to just let them go."
Casselman cited the successful relocation and recovery of Kaavan, "the world's loneliest elephant," who was transferred from the Islamabad Zoo to Cambodia.
According to Scott, the zoo did not consult with Casselman. There were also sanctuaries in the United States zoo officials could have considered as well, she added.
Animal advocates have long called on the zoo to release the elephants, who they say are suffering from "grave distress" and medical conditions due to the limited confines at the zoo.
Max Pulsinelli, a spokesman for the zoo, said in an email to CNS that neither In Defense of Animals nor Casselman contacted or presented them with an offer.
"Even if we had, the cost of the move and activist agendas are not taken into consideration, only the well-being of the individual animals. Animal care decisions are made by animal care experts and zoo professionals within the context of the AZA Accreditation Standards," Pulsinelli said.