Los Angeles residents are suing the director of the Los Angeles Zoo about plans to move Asian elephants Billy and Tina to another zoo in Tulsa in place of animal sanctuaries, lawyers announced Sunday.
The complaint of plaintiff John Kelly, who nominates zoo director and CEO Dennis Verrett as defendant, reflects the concerns of lobbying animal rights activists for years as Billy and Tina are moved to a certified wildlife sanctuary. These supporters were furious when the zoo announced on April 22 that the elephants would be relocated to Tulsa’s elephants to the Elephant Experience and Reserve.
Zoo officials said the decision will be made with animal care and happiness as their number one priority, and the relocation will “give you an opportunity to live among other elephants.”
Describing herself as “a longtime resident of Los Angeles animal lover and resident,” Kelly says she was initially excited to hear that the zoo was moving Billy and Tina to the sanctuary.
However, he later said he was terrified to discover from friends in the animal rights community that Tulsa’s elephant experience and the sanctuary “was a flashy name for a slightly larger elephant enclosure at the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma.”
He sues under California’s Business and Occupation Code 17200 (known as the Unfair Competition Act). This prohibits illegal, unfair or unfair business law or practice, unfair, deceptive, false or misleading advertising.
The complaint filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court seeks a preliminary injunction prohibiting defendants from relocating Billy and Tina to a zoo or “a preserved or shelter that is not preserved on hold in this case.”
It further seeks a permanent injection prohibited the defendants “from keeping Billy and Tina confined at the LA Zoo or relocating Billy and Tina to any zoo (including, without limitation, the Tulsa Zoo), or any unaccredited purported preserve or conservation facility; and (ii) ordering defendants to relocate Billy and Tina to an elephant sanctuary duly accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuary.”
The lawsuit reiterates a long-standing claim made by animal rights activists. He says keeping animals in a zoo instead of a sanctuary is detrimental to their physical and mental well-being.
“The case arises from the intentionally false and misleading expressions made by defendant Dennis Verrett… Mayor Karen Bass’s appointed director of the Los Angeles Zoo… is designed to believe that Billy and Tina will send Tina to the newly expanded elephant. “It’s wrong. “Save” is a confinement at another zoo where Billy and Tina continue to suffer.
“…being considered an “elephant reserve” means that the elephant enclosure at Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma is only slightly larger,” the complaint continues. “There are 17 acres of 17 acres, about 0.027 per square mile. However, there are around 11 acres of space available for elephants. There are already five elephants at Tulsa Zoo.
“… Despite years of scrutiny about its breeding and confinement practices, Lazo continues to remain a cruel, inhuman and traumatic place of elephants forced to stand on hard sand as Billy and Tina suffer daily, isolated in a small shaded, quarantined in a quarantine enclosure, causing serious damage to their feet, and grazing freely, hindering the appeal of the colony, a colony that is free to graze around other colonies. Add.
“Science is well established. The environment at zoos is inhumane and trapped in zoo enclosures. Elephants can be fatal if the elephants are not checked.
Others signed the declaration in favor of a request for an injunction, including pop star Cher, who described himself as “a longtime defender of Billy and Tina.”
“My heart is hearing that the Los Angeles Zoo has planned to move Billy and Tina to yet another zoo rather than a sanctuary, and that they kept it a secret and that the community and our elected officials have gone without getting involved in anything very important to our community,” the singer and actress wrote.
The zoo has referred questions about the case to the city attorney’s office, and spokesman for the city attorney, Heidi Feldstein Soto told City News Service that the office has not commented on the pending lawsuit.
The fate of the elephant has also become a controversial issue on the city council, with councillor Bob Blumenfield asking the zoo to delay decisions until additional options are investigated. Last week, Verret came to the Council’s five-member budget and finance committee to answer follow-up questions and defend the decision.
“We can promise we will always make decisions for the best interests of the animals at zoos, including elephants,” Verrett said.
In response, Blumenfield said, “That’s not all.” Councillors are seeking a cost-benefit analysis of options available to relocate elephants, whether it’s the Tulsa Zoo or another association of sanctuaries where the zoo and aquarium are recognized.
“… on such a big issue… getting that report will come to the council. We really want to make sure we get information before anything happens,” Blumenfield said. “Can I at least promise that?”
Verret repeated her previous statement.
When Blumenfield asked if the contract had been signed, there was no answer. The Deputy City Attorney advised Blumenfield to leave the line of such questions.
Council’s Wonisseth Hernandez has expressed support for the decision to retire Verett and the elephant at the zoo to Tulsa.
“We have Dennis, the general manager of Lazo. She both have an incredible team of animal experts in caregivers in quality of life, but what does it look like to retire in essence,” Hernandez said. “They have been working on this because they feel the need to be empowered by the Charter as a department and as a leadership in the department.”
Blumenfield pushed back by noting that the city council has a fundamental role in overseeing the city’s department. He asked for a budget memo to assess the $80,000 needed to move the animals to Tulsa. According to councillors, if the city can move to the sanctuary to make fewer elephants, the funds can be used to support zoo staff when the city plans a layoff.
Billy is 40 years old and Tina is 59 years old. Zoo officials said they have been evaluating the elephant display since the deaths of two elephants, 61 years old, 63 years old, and 2024, 53 years old, 2024, but said those animals are “rejecting health” due to issues related to the zoo’s inclusion or care.
Tulsa Zoo has five Asian elephants. The reserve covers 17 acres, including a 36,650-square-foot elephant barn and more than 10 acres of wooded elephant sanctuary.
There is no date for the move.
Meanwhile, Blumenfield has asked the zoo to consider the 3,060-acre elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, home to 12 elephants, or the Animal Welfare Association 2000 Sanctuary with the Animal Welfare Association’s 2000 Performance in Northern California.
Courtney Scott, an elephant consultant for animal defense, previously told City News Service that he was disappointed with the decision to move the elephant to another zoo in place of the sanctuary.
Scott said the Tulsa Zoo exhibit is far from enough space to accommodate the needs of elephants in the distance.
“These two elephants have been present in narrow barren zoo displays for decades, enduring physical and mental suffering. It is truly tragic that they have not had the opportunity to live the rest of their lives as the wild free elephants they were born with,” Scott said.
In March, philanthropist and retired trial lawyer David Kasselman offered to fully fund elephants’ relocation to Cambodia’s wildlife sanctuary and lifelong care.
In his remarks, Kasselman said the city doesn’t have to pay anything and it doesn’t get in the way.
“We can crawl Billy, take Tina with him and move them to Cambodia. They’ll have all the spaces of the loveliest beings for the elephants you can imagine,” Kasselman said. “All we need to do is persuade the city council to let them go.”
Kasselman cited the successful relocation and recovery of Kaavan, the “world’s lonely elephant”, which was moved from the Islamabad Zoo to Cambodia.
According to Scott, the zoo did not consult with Casselman. There were also sanctuaries in the United States that zoo officials may have considered as well, she added.
Zoo spokesman Max Pulsinelli previously told CNS that he had not contacted the animal defense or Casselman or presented an offer.
“Even if we have, the cost of movement and activist agenda is not considered. It is just the happiness of individual animals. Animal care decisions are made by animal care professionals and zoo experts within the context of AZA certification standards,” Pulsinelli said.
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