2024-01-04 - Los Angeles, United States.
The Los Angeles Zoo is grieving the death of 53-year-old Asian elephant Shaunzi. Zoo staff observed that Shaunzi was unable to stand up in her exhibit at around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, according to a statement from the LA Zoo. Zoo veterinarians worked throughout the night to get her back on her feet, but found no success. Shaunzi was sedated and euthanized early Wednesday morning.
2016-12-01 - Los Angeles, United States.
Los Angeles was built in a place pockmarked with tar pits, and one of the sites on the extension of the Purple Line is at Wilshire and La Brea, not far from the famous La Brea Tar Pits, which daily yields new finds. Late in November, construction crews found another one, the Los Angeles Times reports. The first piece of an ancient animal that they discovered was a shattered tusk, three feet long, followed by a mastodon tooth. This week, a specialist who monitors the site for fossil finds located...
2015-04-11 - Los Angeles, United States.
In a move closely related to the epochal March 5th announcement from Ringling Bros. that it plans to phase out the use of elephants in its traveling shows, California state Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) has introduced SB 716, a bill to prohibit the use of bullhooks on elephants in California.
2014-05-01 - Los Angeles, United States.
The bullhook ban will go into effect at the beginning of 2017 a delay meant to give circuses time to change how they handle elephants or remove them from their shows completely. "We´re not going to come to L.A. without our elephants," said Stephen Payne, vice president of corporate communications for Feld Entertainment, the parent company for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
2013-11-15 - Los Angeles, United States.
Ivory stockpiles were destroyed in Kenya in 2011, Gabon in 2012 and the Philippines in 2013. But those events haven´t deterred poaching and the illegal trade of ivory, and raw ivory prices in China have doubled since 2011, said Godfrey Harris, a representative of the Political Action Network of the International Ivory Society.
2013-11-14 - Los Angeles, United States. Dr Daniel Stiles, IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group
Don´t give an incentive to criminals to kill more elephants. They see this as ivory getting scarcer, prices and demand going up. In response, USFWS will crush seized ivory, almost certainly sending a message to criminals that they had better step up their killing of elephants before all the ivory is gone.
2013-10-31 - Los Angeles, United States.
Cheered on by animal-welfare activists, City Council members voted unanimously last week to make Los Angeles the only place in the United States to ban the use by elephant trainers of the implements known as bullhooks. Is this a case of animal-welfare activists going too far and pressuring elected officials to take a politically correct stand that really isn’t necessary?
2013-10-27 - Los Angeles, United States.
Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey, argues they are an accepted tool and that the new law is misguided. “There are already laws in place — federal, state and local ordinances – that prohibit animal cruelty," said Payne. "So this is basically an animal rights driven bill to kick out the circus.” Payne says his company is waiting to see the exact wording of the new law, which will be phased in over three years.
2012-12-26 - Los Angeles, United States.
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus train has been bringing four-ton Asian elephants to this city since 1919. But “The Greatest Show on Earth” might have made its last stop here. Los Angeles is poised to ban elephants from performing in circuses within its city limits, after pressure from animal welfare advocates who have for decades condemned the methods used to train and transport elephants as abusive and cruel.
2012-12-19 - Los Angeles, United States. Deborah Olson
L.A. City Council´s proposed ban on elephants performing in traveling shows such as circuses paints a romantic picture of elephants as gentle giants. The editorial board seems to buy into the animal extremists´ idealistic scenario of happy, fat pachyderms lazily wandering the open plains of Africa or the jungles of Asia, free of disease and conflict with humans.
2012-12-05 - Los Angeles, United States. Deborah Olson
The Times´ editorial Monday on the L.A. City Council´s proposed ban on elephants performing in traveling shows such as circuses paints a romantic picture of elephants as gentle giants. The editorial board seems to buy into the animal extremists´ idealistic scenario of happy, fat pachyderms lazily wandering the open plains of Africa or the jungles of Asia, free of disease and conflict with humans.
2011-12-28 - Los Angeles, United States.
The woman, who has not yet been identified, crossed ditched and climbed fences -- barriers specifically meant to keep people like her out to get into the elephant sanctuary on what was a very busy afternoon at the zoo. The woman walked right up to the animals and even petted some of them while horrified onlookers screamed at her, trying to get her to leave the sanctuary which houses three elephants.
2011-02-02 - Los Angeles, United States.
Sex and the City star Kristin Davis will receive the Wyler Award from the Humane Society of the United States for her work in helping orphaned African elephants that are hunted for their ivory tusks. She´ll receive the tribute on March 19 in Los Angeles at the organization´s 25th anniversary Genesis Awards.
2010-11-04 - Los Angeles, United States. Jason Jacobs, Los Angeles Zoo PR
On the morning of Thursday, November 4, 2010, the Los Angeles Zoo moved 25-year-old Asian elephant Billy into a completed section of the new six-acre Elephants of Asia exhibit, scheduled to open December 16. Zoo staff used pumpkins to create a trail for Billy to follow into his new home. After cautiously stepping into the new habitat, Billy began eating the pumpkins along with some of the landscaping. Billy then showered himself underneath the new waterfall and dug into the river sand which surr...
2010-10-30 - Los Angeles, United States. Carla Hall and Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times
Two females will be on indefinite loan from the San Diego Zoo, bringing the Griffith Park facility´s number of pachyderms to three. Tina and Jewel are female Asian elephants of un certain age who between them have endured foot problems and dental surgery. They will be on indefinite loan from the San Diego Zoo, both zoos announced Friday.
2010-07-16 - Los Angeles, United States. Jeff Favre
In recent years, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles had been getting a bit long in the tooth — and we’re not talking about the saber-toothed tiger fossils in its collections. No, the museum’s building was nearly a century old, and it was in need of a serious makeover. Thanks to an extensive series of just-wrapped renovations, the structure built in 1913 is looking better than ever. But what good is a structural facelift if there’s nothing new to see inside?
2009-11-07 - Los Angeles, United States. Robyn Dixon
Elephants are a harrowing threat to villagers and their crops. But they bring in tourists (and their money), and are rigorously protected -- more so than humans, critics say. Reporting from Katubya, Zambia - Here's how to pitch this (true) story to Hollywood: Ordinary guy named John, ordinary Sunday, cycling home into a setting sun. Monster roars out of the bushes! John abandons his bike, flees in terror. The creature smashes the bicycle, catches him in a few short strides, grabs him by the shir...
2009-09-23 - Los Angeles, United States.
An actor who is suing to stop construction of an elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo can move forward with his lawsuit against the city.A notification was posted on the 2nd District Court of Appeal's Web site Wednesday, saying that a 2008 Superior Court ruling dismissing the case was "reversed in full." Actor and animal rights activist Robert Culp and real estate agent Aaron Leider filed a lawsuit in August 2007, alleging that the zoo did not treat the elephants well and the planned l...
2009-07-06 - Los Angeles, United States. WPXI.com
Hours before a public memorial for Michael Jackson, a herd of elephants were on the march through downtown Los Angeles in a fitting start to a circus-like day. Eleven Asian elephants and seven horses from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus lumbered from Union Station toward the Staples Center early Tuesday, where the memorial service for Jackson was to be held. The elephants were set to arrive at the arena some five hours before the memorial. Some elephants and early arriving Jackson ...
2009-02-18 - Los Angeles, United States. Dan Whitcomb
The nearly complete skeleton of a massive Columbian mammoth who died during the last ice age has been dug out of a construction site near the La Brea Tar Pits in downtown Los Angeles, a remarkable find even in the fossil-rich area, scientists said Wednesday. The mammoth, dubbed "Zed" by researchers at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, likely died in his late 40s some 40,000 years ago and was found near an unprecedented treasure trove of fossils that workers stumbled upon while digging the...
2009-01-28 - Los Angeles, United States. Rick Orlov
In what looks like the final chapter of the Battle of Billy, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday rejected entreaties from Hollywood stars and animal-rights groups and voted to resume the Los Angeles Zoo's controversial elephant project. With celebrities such as Cher, Bob Barker, Robert Culp, Tippi Hedren and Lily Tomlin urging them to shut down the $42 million, 3.6-acre project, council members voted 11-4 to move ahead with the long- planned Pachyderm Forest.
2009-01-24 - Los Angeles, United States.
Acknowledging that traditional elephant exhibits are inadequate to the point of cruelty -- small, spare, with foot-punishing floors -- zoos have chosen divergent directions. Some, including the Chicago, San Francisco and venerable Bronx zoos, are closing or making plans to close their elephant exhibits altogether. The Los Angeles Zoo has chosen the latter approach. Its planned $42-million, 3.6-acre Pachyderm Forest was $12 million into construction when Councilman Tony Cardenas called instead fo...
2009-01-22 - Los Angeles, United States. The Elephant Keepers and colleagues at the LA Zoo
We know Billy and we know elephants. From 71 years experience with elephants including Billy we know that Billy’s best chance at a happy, natural life is a completed Pachyderm Forest at the Los Angeles Zoo. Here he can father calves with a herd of cows and make his own family. We know Billy. His favorite food is banana plants. We feed him bales of hay, bushels of produce and tree trimmings daily. We hide bananas and oranges in his yard for exercise and enrichment. We walk him miles, scrub his ...
2009-01-22 - Los Angeles, United States.
The LA Zoo’s Elephant Keepers held a press conference at the Zoo on Sunday January 11 2009 to release an Open Letter to the LA City Council calling for completion of the “Pachyderm Forest,” a cutting edge but controversial exhibit planned as home to Asian elephant Billy and a breeding herd. Seventy-seven of their LA Zoo colleagues also signed the letter. The LA City Council will vote later this month on whether to continue funding the exhibit, which was approved by 79% of voters and is two...
2009-01-17 - Los Angeles, United States. Lindsay Barnett
L.A. Zoo animal keepers are the latest group adding their voices to the debate over Billy, the zoo's lone elephant. They appealed Monday to city officials to vote to complete the zoo's planned $42-million Pachyderm Forest. The keepers say they have Billy's best interests at heart and are firmly convinced that the zoo is the best place for him. (Construction on Pachyderm Forest was halted in early December; the City Council is expected to make a final decision on whether to continue the project ...
2009-01-15 - Los Angeles, United States. Rick Orlov
Los Angeles County officials warned Thursday that the city would have to refund nearly $5million within 60 days if it abandons plans for a $42million elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo. The City Council is expected to decide today whether to proceed with construction of the 3.6-acre "Pachyderm Forest," which would house Billy, the zoo's last remaining elephant. Under pressure from animal-rights activists who want Billy sent to a free-range sanctuary, the city halted work last month although...
2008-12-30 - Los Angeles, United States. Brenda Scott Royce
My last post here, about the efforts by animal activists to halt construction of the Los Angeles Zoo's new elephant habitat, sparked more debate than anything I've previously written. As I've followed the firestorm of comments here and in other media outlets, I've been increasingly struck by what has become the rallying cry of Los Angeles's anti-zoo crowd: "Free Billy." It's cute and catchy, but utterly disingenuous.
2008-12-17 - Los Angeles, United States.
Today, Connie Morgan, President of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., issued the following statement: "We are grateful to the Los Angeles Zoo Commission members for overwhelmingly voting today to support the completion of Billy's new home in the Pachyderm Forest after they had an opportunity to review all of the facts. Our forest will provide one of the largest and safest elephant habitats in the country, one that will be enjoyed for years to come by the schoolchildren and working families of Lo...
2008-12-09 - Los Angeles, United States. HECTOR TOBAR
Stand behind the curtain of bamboo just outside the paddock of the last, lone elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo and you'll hear the daylong drumbeat of running feet. Boys and girls yell "elefante!" and cry out "grandotote," which is Spanish for "huge." They ooh and ah, and ask questions of their parents in English, Korean, Tagalog and many languages more. Visiting the zoo is a Los Angeles rite of passage. I started coming in the late 1960s. For my Guatemalan immigrant parents, it was one more libe...
2008-12-07 - Los Angeles, United States.
The Los Angeles City Council last week halted construction on the new $42 million pachyderm exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo under fire from animal activists who say it's cruel to keep the large animals in zoos. They will be considering killing the project altogether. In these economic times, it makes sense. But the council has yet to decide what to do with L.A.'s sole elephant, Billy. What's your take? Should L.A. set Billy free and use his pen for something else?
2008-12-01 - Los Angeles, United States. Zach Behrens
Brenda Scott Royce, director of publications for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, sounded off this weekend at Huffington Post about all the elephant talk going on these days. Animal activists and Councilman Tony Cardenas want the exhibit currently under construction to halt work and have a search a large expansive elephant sanctuary. Royce, along with others, believe the exhibit is just fine. Their point of view has not gotten as much press, so here's some of it.
2008-12-01 - Los Angeles, United States.
The fate of a new elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo will be debated Monday afternoon by a city council committee. At issue is a $42 million elephant exhibit, which critics say is too small and ill-suited for the elephants. The city council committee will provide new information about the financial consequences of scrapping construction on the project, which has already cost $12 million since being approved by the council in 2006.
2008-11-09 - Los Angeles , United States.
A City Council committee has rejected a move to stop work on a $40 million elephant enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo. The panel's decision came Thursday despite pleas from celebrities such as Lily Tomlin and Bob Barker to instead fund a 60-acre elephant sanctuary in the San Fernando Valley. The council committee declined to take a vote that would have sent the proposal to the full council for consideration. Celebrities who want to remove the elephants from the zoo say living there can harm their...
2008-10-21 - Los Angeles , United States.
Bob Barker, Alicia Silverstone and other celebrities have joined a city councilman's efforts to remove elephants from the Los Angeles Zoo and into a massive sanctuary where they can roam free—or at least close to it. Councilman Tony Cardenas, accompanied by several celebrities at a press conference Tuesday, announced his desire to halt construction of the zoo's elephant habitat and use the money to build a 60-acre sanctuary operated by the zoo.
2008-05-13 - Los Angeles, United States.
There's nothing like an elephant... in a zoo... to get many Angelenos riled up. Should the elephants stay or should they go? And what about that $40-million new elephant habitat under construction? Today, City News Service reports that a lawsuit filed to close the Los Angeles Zoo's current elephant exhibit and stop the construction of a new one was dismissed. In the suit filed last Aug. 2 against the city and zoo director John Lewis, actor Robert Culp and real estate agent Aaron Leider maintaine...
2008-04-25 - Los Angeles , United States.
Forty-seven-year-old African elephant Ruby, who garnered enormous media attention last year when she left the Los Angeles Zoo for the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) Elephant Sanctuary near Sacramento, Calif., will celebrate her one year “retirement” anniversary on May 3, 2008. As part of the celebration, Ruby will receive a visit from Project OneSong and Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan (RFCPP) foster children (sponsored by Project OneSong) who will also present PAWS with an ...
2008-03-14 - Los Angeles, United States. Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times
The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana has canceled a stunt in which an artist planned to surround an Asian elephant with a giant soap bubble after critics threatened to protest it as cruel and frivolous, the center announced Friday. “We wanted it to be good, clean family fun, so we’re taking away the part that seemed negative,” said spokeswoman Julie Smith, adding that the only change in plans is to take the elephant out of Tuesday’s show. The science center began reconsidering the s...
2008-03-14 - Los Angeles, United States.
Horton Hears a Who! is a 2008 CGI animated film based on the 1954 book by Dr. Seuss. It is set to be released on March 14, 2008. One day, Horton the elephant (Jim Carrey) hears a cry for help coming from a speck of dust. Even though he can't see anyone on the speck, he decides to help it. As it turns out, the speck of dust is home to the Whos, who live in their city of Whoville. Horton agrees to help protect the Whos and their home, but this gives him nothing but torment from his neighbors, who ...
2008-03-06 - Los Angeles, United States. Jan Westmark, Celebrity News Service
Two new shows make their television debuts Thursday night, giving people who are not fans of "American Idol" or "Lost" something to watch. Animal Planet will begin airing a series called "Elephant Diaries" and A and E is offering "Crime 360." "Elephant Diaries" is set in an elephant nursery in Kenya and focuses on the struggles of a herd of orphaned calves in their first year away from their families. The show shares facts about the elephants, the largest land mammals, along the way. The show ai...
2008-02-27 - Los Angeles , United States.
David Hasselhoff is reclaiming an ivory tusk and an antique barber's chair from his ex-wife. The former 'Baywatch' actor has won a court order allowing him back into the family home in Los Angeles to collect possessions from ex-wife Pamela Bach. Among other items the former heartthrob wants to reclaim, are an elephant foot and two elephant stools, a statue of a dolphin, a model elephant and baseball memorabilia.
2008-02-15 - Los Angeles, United States. Callie Miller
Despite claims from former zoo employees and animal activists that LA zoo elephant handlers have a history of abusing the elepehants, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Reginald A. Dunn said the claims were baseless. The Daily News cites Dunn's ruling: "This is a ... public policy dispute between the plaintiffs and the defendants on how to run the L.A. Zoo," Dunn stated. "Moreover, there does not seem to be any illegal activity currently ongoing that an injunction should be imposed to stop."
2008-02-14 - Los Angeles, United States.
A judge has ruled that work on a new elephant building at the Los Angeles Zoo can continue and that the zoo's lone elephant can remain, thwarting efforts by Robert Culp to close the exhibit and stop another from being built, according to court papers released Thursday. Superior Court Judge Reginald A. Dunn wrote in his four-page ruling that there were no grounds for issuing an injunction sought by the actor while he and another man pursue a lawsuit seeking to keep elephants out of the zoo becaus...
2008-01-22 - Los Angeles, United States.
An actor and a real estate agent want answers now about the elephants. They may get them in a hearing in three weeks. Actor-and-animal activist Robert Culp and Real Estate Agent Aaron Leider sued Los Angeles and its zoo-director in August, over the conditions for elephants there. They want a preliminary injunction now that would shut down the elephant exhibit. They also want to shut down construction on its expansion, which they say is inadequate. There's one elephant on display now, 21-year old...
2007-12-19 - Los Angeles, United States. Carla Hall
The elephant researcher stood in the living room of the sleekly modern Pacific Palisades home perched high on a hill. Slides of an African preserve flashed by on a screen. Elephants "are so social, so communicative, so intelligent," said Joyce Poole, who has dedicated her life to documenting and protecting pachyderms. It is a task that takes money, and the admiring audience was ready to help. "I'd like to put up $25,000," businessman Gil Michaels said. His condition: The rest of the room had to ...
2007-12-05 - Los Angeles, United States. Pam Wetter
Melya Kaplan is a teacher and an activist. As the Founder and Executive Director of Voice for the Animals Foundation, Kaplan speaks out on behalf of the elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo. “The tide is turning. Elephant exhibits are being phased out all over this country. The Bronx Zoo is phasing out their elephant exhibit.
2007-10-30 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
A judge has ruled that Robert Culp's lawsuit alleging that the Los Angeles Zoo mistreats elephants can go forward. Judge Reginald A. Dunn rejected arguments by the city that the complaint filed by the 77-year-old actor and real estate agent Aaron Leider lacks a legal basis. Robert Culp arrives at NBC's 75th anniversary celebration in this May 5, 2002, file photo in New York. Culp's lawsuit alleging that the Los Angeles Zoo mistreats elephants can go forward. Judge Reginald A. Dunn has rejected a...
2007-10-29 - Los Angeles, United States.
Robert Culp's lawsuit alleging that the Los Angeles Zoo mistreats elephants can go forward. Judge Reginald A. Dunn has rejected arguments by the city that the complaint filed by the 77-year-old actor and real estate agent Aaron Leider lacks a legal basis.
2007-09-28 - Los Angeles, United States. Karen Kaplan
Scientists seeking to decode ancient DNA from woolly mammoths and other Ice Age beasts have found an abundant new source of unsullied genetic material: ordinary hair. Using samples of fur from mammoths that roamed Siberia 17,000 to 50,000 years ago, the researchers were able, they say, to reconstruct the complete mitochondrial genomes of 10 animals, even though some of the hair had been stored at room temperature for 200 years.
2007-09-27 - Los Angeles, United States. Randolph E. Schmid
Attacking several tons of woolly mammoth with stone-tipped spears must have taken extraordinary courage — and ancient people left paintings to prove they did it. Now, scientists are approaching mammoths in a different way, extracting DNA from their dense coats in an effort to learn more about them. Mammoths are extinct, of course. No one knows if the cause was climate change, hungry Neanderthals or something else — but they left behind remains, often frozen in the tundra.
2007-08-02 - Los Angeles, United States.
A history of abuse and neglect at the Los Angeles Zoo resulted in the premature death of 13 elephants, actor Robert Culp and another man claimed in a lawsuit filed today seeking to close the facility. In the lawsuit filed against the zoo and city of Los Angeles, Culp and real estate agent Aaron Leider accuse zoo officials of abusing elephants by withholding medical care, keeping the animals confined in a small area and using bull hooks and electric shock to control them.
2007-05-15 - Los Angeles, United States.
Animal rights activists plan to gather outside the L-A zoo today to see Ruby the African elephant trudge off into retirement. The 46-year-old animal will spend her twilight years in a 70-acre enclosure that she'll share with three other elephants at a Northern California sanctuary.
2007-05-13 - Los Angeles, United States. DANA BARTHOLOMEW
Keepers at the Los Angeles Zoo will say goodbye to Ruby on Tuesday, when one of their dearest friends heads off to retirement at a Northern California elephant sanctuary. Jeff Briscoe, the zoo's principal elephant keeper, had welcomed Ruby to the L.A. Zoo in 1987, when she arrived from Circus Vargas. At dawn Tuesday, she will be loaded into a temperature-controlled truck and hauled 350 miles to join three African elephants at the PAWS elephant sanctuary in the Sierra Foothills east of St...
2007-04-06 - Los Angeles, United States. Jennifer Steinhauer
Somewhere amid the rolling suitcases, plastic baggies filled with lip gloss, laptops, skis and other sundry items streaming through Los Angeles International Airport, there are, occasionally, rare butterflies, elephant tusks, sea turtle eggs and, in one case, a pair of pygmy monkeys, stuffed down the pants of an incoming passenger. Wildlife smuggling is the nation’s second-largest black market, just behind narcotics, accounting for $8 billion to $10 billion a year in sales, said Joseph O. John...
2007-03-12 - Los Angeles, United States. Fiona Hutton, Los Angeles Zoo Press release
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles Zoo Director John Lewis today jointly announced that, after years of helping to educate the Southern California community about elephants, Ruby the elephant will be moved to the Performing Animal Welfare Society in Northern California (PAWS). The 46-year old African elephant has led a fulfilling life at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens (LA Zoo) where she has lived for nearly 10 active and healthy years.
2007-03-11 - Los Angeles, United States. Carla Hall
The Los Angeles Zoo is expected to announce today that it is retiring its female African elephant, Ruby, to an animal sanctuary in Central California. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has expressed concern about the conditions for elephants at the L.A. Zoo, plans to discuss the decision to relocate Ruby at a news conference today.
2007-02-21 - LOS ANGELES, United States. Associated Press
Animal welfare activists called on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to retire the city zoo's 46-year-old elephant to a sanctuary. In two letters to the mayor Tuesday, humane groups and former zoo workers demanded that Ruby the elephant be sent from "solitary confinement" at the Los Angeles Zoo to a 150-acre sanctuary in Northern California. Zoo officials are weighing whether to send Ruby to the refuge or to another zoo.
2007-02-15 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
Very soon one of the zoo's beloved elephants could leave Los Angeles according to an NBC4 report. The question of where Ruby the elephant should go is an issue even Mayor Villaraigosa admits has divided the city. Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles Mayor: Two very strong centers of influence in our community. One believes, like I do, that elephants belong in sanctuaries and not zoos. The others support a zoo and the elephants in our zoo.
2006-12-13 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, will conduct a town hall meeting Wednesday at which he and animal activists will discuss their concerns about conditions in which elephants are held in captivity and the reintroduction of his Elephant Protection Act, which would have a major impact in San Diego. During the meeting, longtime animal activist Bob Barker, the host of "The Price is Right," will announce a pledge of $300,000 in a drive to move an African elephant named Ruby from the Los Angeles Zo...
2006-11-22 - Los Angeles, United States. Carla Hall, Los Angeles Times
Remember Ruby? The 45-year-old female African elephant has lived more than half her life at the Los Angeles Zoo. She just hasn't been on exhibit for the last two years due to the logistics of moving elephants around to accommodate the slow, complicated process of constructing the new pachyderm exhibit. "I haven't dismissed anything," zoo Director John Lewis said in a brief interview before the meeting on zoo grounds, though he conceded it was "unlikely" that Ruby would remain in Los Angeles.
2006-11-11 - Los Angeles, United States. DANA BARTHOLOMEW
Forty years ago, four elephants lumbered trunk to tail from the dilapidated Griffith Park Zoo to their home at the new Los Angeles Zoo. Their milelong trek, taken by 2,200 other animals in every type of truck, ended decades of controversy over cramped quarters at Griffith Park. Now critics say that $40 million earmarked for a 3.6-acre pachyderm exhibit is too much money to be spent on too little space. Zoo officials call plans for the new exhibit above and beyond the industry standard.
2006-10-08 - Los Angeles, United States. CHARLES SIEBERT
Were not going anywhere, my driver, Nelson Okello, whispered to me one morning this past June, the two of us sitting in the front seat of a jeep just after dawn in Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwestern Uganda. We’d originally stopped to observe what appeared to be a lone bull elephant grazing in a patch of tall savanna grasses off to our left. More than one “rogue” crossed our path that morning — a young male elephant that has made an overly strong power play against the dominant...
2006-07-24 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
As the U.S. Department of Agriculture investigates the June death of an elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo, an animal rights group asked Monday that the probe include the 2004 death of another elephant. In Defense of Animals filed a second complaint with the Department of Agriculture asking that its investigation include the death of Tara, an African elephant found dead in December 2004 shortly after being found in a downed position.
2006-07-21 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
Preliminary construction on a disputed 3.7-acre elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo will move forward after receiving the backing Friday of the citys Board of Public Works. The board approved $2.1 million for the General Services Department to demolish part of the existing elephant exhibit and start construction of the zoos new Pachyderm Forest.
2006-07-20 - LOS ANGELES, United States. Valerie Kuklenski
No three rings. No big cats. And just maybe, by next year, no elephants. Ringling's own research shows that its strongest attraction is its trained elephants, but they also cause public-relations problems for the company. Currently, Ringling has 55 elephants, around 20 of them touring with three circus units.
2006-07-07 - Los Angeles, United States. Dana Bartholomew
A night zookeeper at the Los Angeles Zoo who failed to report that Gita the elephant was resting in a life-threatening position has been allowed to resign. Officials say the woman had learned from a security guard that the 48-year-old elephant was sitting like a dog and failed to report it. The 8,000-pound elephant Gita at the zoo since 1959, had arthritis and a history of chronic foot ailments. She died at 9:40 a.m. after toxins from her muscles led to vascular distress.
2006-07-01 - Los Angeles, United States.
The keepers of a 48-year-old Asian elephant that died did not begin emergency procedures for more than eight hours after the animal was discovered in a sitting position, a Los Angeles Zoo investigation has found. Keepers did not begin emergency procedures until the following morning, it said. The 8,000-pound female named Gita died on June 10.
2006-06-21 - Los Angeles, United States. Lynn Doan
The director of the Los Angeles Zoo told the Zoo Commission on Tuesday that he was conducting a full investigation into Gita the elephant's recent death, which animal rights activists call premature and blame on mistreatment. Members of the group In Defense of Animals protested outside the commission meeting and demanded that federal officials launch an independent investigation.
2006-06-12 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
Animal rights activists have called for the resignation of the director of the Los Angeles Zoo, holding him responsible for the death of a 48-year-old Asian elephant named Gita. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals faxed a letter Sunday to Director John Lewis, saying Gita's death was caused by poor living conditions at the zoo.
2006-06-11 - Los Angeles, United States. Carla Hall
Gita, the Los Angeles Zoo's female Asian elephant who had become the focus of a highprofile controversy over whether the giant animals should stay in zoos, died Saturday morning in her yard after several hours of attempts to save her life. Gita, who turned 48 this month, had lived at the zoo since 1959.
2006-05-20 - Los Angeles, United States. PERRY CROWE
On April 19, the L.A. City Council approved a nearly $40 million expansion of the L.A. Zoos elephant exhibit. The plan includes waterfalls and bathing holes and lush greenery spread over 3.7 acres. Its definitely a step up from the current 2-acre exhibit, which is broken into two small enclosures, one of which is Billys daytime home. And the size of the elephant barn in the citys expansion plan suggests an eventual population of 10 elephants as L.A.s elephants become a breeding herd, with Billy ...
2006-01-03 - Los Angeles, United States. Ian Sample
Elephants roaming the parched plains of Africa's national parks can get up to half their food by risky midnight raids into crop fields, according to scientists who tracked a herd by satellite monitoring. Conservationists working for Save the Elephants Foundation in Kenya hope that by understanding the elephants' behaviour, they can improve ways of protecting farmers against damage caused by the animals, and in turn protect the elephants from angered farmers. "When an elephant raids a crop field,...
2006-01-02 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
The chemicals in tail hair discloses the secret of the African elephants' diet and movement, U.S. scientists reported on Monday. Analyzing specific tail hair chemicals, and tracking the subject elephants with radio collars, can help reduce human-elephant conflicts and determine where to establish sanctuaries to protect the endangered creatures, claimed the researchers. Their findings were published in the Jan. 3 online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
2005-12-15 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
The three elephants at Los Angeles Zoo — Gita, Ruby and Billy — need three times more space than their current quarters but it comes with a price tag of $50 million, according to a report on the future of pachyderms at the zoo. The independent report was commissioned by Los Angeles' new mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, after years of debate about the keeping of elephants in captivity at the city-owned zoo.
2005-09-22 - Los Angeles, United States. Dana Bartholomew
How big a yard does an elephant need? The answer could decide whether the city builds a $19 million pachyderm exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo or packs off its three elephants to an elephant sanctuary. Elephant experts argued for and against the two-acre exhibit this week before Los Angeles Zoo commissioners. Next week, the mayor is expected to review an independent study on elephant quarters at the zoo.
2005-08-28 - Los Angeles, United States.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently called for an independent review of three elephants' well-being at the Los Angeles Zoo. The study, anticipated to address housing and health needs, is to be conducted by the City Administrative Office and submitted to the mayor and city council by Sept. 30 of this year.
2005-08-20 - Los Angeles, United States. Dana Bartholomew
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has called for an independent review of elephant quarters at the Los Angeles Zoo, a move that could determine whether to send the pachyderms packing to a wildlife sanctuary. The study puts on hold nearly $11 million requested to complete construction of the $19 million Pachyderm Forest, an exhibit already more than a year behind schedule.
2005-05-13 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
The elephants at the LA Zoo have always been popular with the public. But now the exhibit could be shut down if Antonio Villaraigosa is elected mayor,NBC4's Doug Kriegel reported. "I have believed for some time that a zoo is not an appropriate place for an animal as large as an elephant," Villaraigosa told Kriegel.
2005-04-09 - LOS ANGELES, United States. Catherine Saillant and Gregory W. Griggs
Construction crews have uncovered the skeleton of a fossilized mammoth believed to be older than the ancient beasts found at the La Brea Tar Pits. Larry Agenbroad, one of the nation's foremost mammoth experts, called the find "spectacular," especially if, as he suspects, it turns out to be of the rare meridionalis species.
2005-01-06 - LOS ANGELES, United States. PRNewswire
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Hollywood Office commends L.A. Superior Court Judge George H. Wu for pledging yesterday to reopen the Ruby the elephant lawsuit should the Los Angeles Zoo attempt to move the beleaguered female African elephant again in the foreseeable future. While dismissing the eighteen-month-old taxpayer lawsuit as moot, in light of 43 year-old Ruby's recent return to the Los Angeles Zoo, the decision provides plaintiff Catherine Doyle with the opportunity to se...
2005-01-05 - Los Angeles, United States.
A judge dismissed a case that might have resulted in another move for Ruby. She was relocated to the L.A. Zoo in November after spending more than one year in Tennessee. Ruby was moved from the Tennessee zoo after she did not integrate with a herd of African elephants. The case might be reopened if the zoo wants to move Ruby again. Zoo officials said Ruby is adjusting to her surroundings, but activists claim she should reside in an animal sanctuary.
2004-10-27 - LOS ANGELES, United States.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Hollywood Office applauds yesterday's decision by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George H. Wu to retain continuing court jurisdiction over Ruby the elephant until a new status hearing on January 5, 2005.
2004-07-20 - Los Angeles, United States. Lora LaMarca, Los Angeles Zoo
Working with the American Zoo and Aquarium Association’s (AZA) Species Survival Plan managers for elephants, the Los Angeles Zoo had been seeking a better and more social situation for Ruby, a 43-year-old African elephant. The decision was made to move Ruby from the Los Angeles Zoo to the Knoxville (Tennessee) Zoo in May 2003.
2003-05-25 - Los Angeles, United States. Lora LaMarca, Los Angeles Zoo
Ruby, a 42-year-old female African elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo, began her journey to her new home at the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee the evening of May 25.
2024-04-26 - Blackpool, United Kingdom.
The latest round of pregnancy tests at Blackpool Zoo has revealed that two of its elephants are expecting babies. Mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are both pregnant and due to give birth in late...
2024-04-02 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia.
There was sad news from Mondulkiri Province, with the death of 2 year old elephant “Chi Pich” being announced. Sources from the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment Organization (ELIE) said ...
2024-03-26 - Kochi, India.
Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan, 55, 55, died at Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad on Monday. The elephant owned by M A Haridasan had been under treatment for the past few months.
2024-03-23 - Kegalle, Sri Lanka.
The 76th elephant calf was born at the Rambukkana Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on March 20.This baby elephant was born to 32-year-old she-elephant Shanthi and 19-year-old Pandu at the Pinnawala Elepha...
2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa.
In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbour...
2024-03-15 - , United States.
After weeks of voting and thousands of submissions, the Toledo Zoo has officially chosen the name of their precious baby elephant and we're personally thrilled about the news! Ladies and gentleman, Ki...
2024-03-09 - Tucson, United States.
A baby elephant was born at Reid Park Zoo. The zoo said Semba, the facility’s African elephant matriarch, gave birth to a 265-pound calf around 3:31 a.m. Friday, March 8. Reid Park Zoo said the calf...
2024-03-04 - Copenhagen, Denmark.
A female baby elephant in Copenhagen Zoo has been named Chin after the Tha Chin river in central Thailand. The elephant was born last week in the Danish zoo. The zookeepers, who take care of the young...
2024-02-29 - Alappuzha, India.
Evoor Kannan, the elephant known for his murderous rage and with a history of killing two mahouts is in a bad mood these days. He had been gentle under the care of his former Mahout Sharath Parippally...
2024-02-20 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands.
African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park Beekse Bergen k in four months. Never before have thr...
2024-02-15 - Pittsburgh, United States.
The zoo said Tsuni died Thursday after a sudden, brief battle with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Her EEHV was detected through routine blood testing on Feb. 8, even though she presente...
2024-02-15 - Seoul, South Korea.
The oldest female elephant in South Korea passed away Tuesday at a zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, at the age of 59, zoo officials said Thursday. The female elephant, named Sakura, had suffered fr...
2024-01-30 - Bangalore, India.
The Bannerghatta Biological Park is brimming with excitement as it welcomes a delightful new addition—a baby boy elephant calf. This adorable arrival brings the elephant count in the Bannerghatta zo...
2024-01-27 - Guruvayur, India.
Elephant Kannan, of the Guruvayur Devaswom Elephant Camp, a nine-time winner of the festival-related elephant race, has passed away. His demise was around 5:30 pm on Saturday. The tusker's age at the ...
2024-01-27 - Koh Nhek, Cambodia.
Villagers found a baby elephant dead in Koh Nhek district, Mondulkiri province in the middle of the forest on January 26, 2024, suspected of being shot. Mondulkiri Provincial department of environm...
2024-01-13 - Beijing, China.
A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, t...
2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.
The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year...
2024-01-11 - New York, United States.
In a narrow but sprawling curatorial space at the uptown museum, The Secret World of Elephants, now opened, tells the story of elephant species and their relatives through life-size models, videos, gr...
2024-01-11 - Mysore, India.
In response to the escalating threat posed by leopards, elephants and other wild animals in the Mysuru region, specialised task forces have been established to address the situation. A dedicated Leopa...
The Los Angeles Zoo is grieving the death of 53-year-old Asian elephant Shaunzi. Zoo staff observed that Shaunzi was unable to stand up in her exhibit at around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, according t...
