Last two elephants to leave L.A. Zoo after years of controversy. But their new home is the subject of debate
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The L.A. Zoo announced Tuesday that it is putting an indefinite pause on its elephant program and intends to relocate its two remaining herd members, Billy and Tina, to Oklahoma, where they will live in a newly expanded elephant habitat at the Tulsa Zoo.
But animal advocates and some City Council members are attempting to intervene, saying they believe Billy and Tina would be better off in an elephant sanctuary.
The L.A. Zoo’s elephant program has been criticized for decades because of its small enclosure size and history of deaths and health challenges among its inhabitants.
Celebrities including Cher, Lily Tomlin, and the late Bob Barker have previously advocated for Billy — who has been at the L.A. Zoo since 1989 — to be moved to an elephant sanctuary, citing concerns over his mental and physical health in the enclosure. Motions to relocate him have been proposed three times by the City Council.
City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield filed a motion Wednesday seeking to pause the elephants’ relocation until the council can review the possibility of sending them to an elephant sanctuary where they would have more space than at the Tulsa Zoo.
“They [sanctuaries] have natural environments with vastly greater space than the Los Angeles Zoo and can help heal the trauma and damage caused by zoo captivity,” Blumenfield wrote in the motion.
The Asian elephant is suffering from his time in captivity and should be moved to a sanctuary, according to a motion from Councilman Paul Koretz that a committee passed.
The L.A. Zoo has long defended the quality of care provided to its elephants and did not cite any health issues as a reason for the relocation.
The zoo said that it’s currently unfeasible to replace Billy and Tina’s two former herd members, who recently died, and that elephants need to live in larger social groups, so officials opted to move them. Jewel, 61, and Shaunzi, 53, were euthanized in 2023 and 2024 respectively, because of health issues that the zoo said were age-related and not due to their enclosure or care.
The Los Angeles City Council has ordered a study into the factors that led Asian elephants Jewel and Shaunzi to be euthanized at the L.A. Zoo.
“Creating a larger social herd at the L.A. Zoo is currently not a viable option due to the limited availability of Asian elephants within the AZA [Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums] population,” the zoo wrote in a news release. “Moving them to Tulsa, another AZA-accredited zoo with an excellent elephant program, will allow Billy and Tina to continue receiving exceptional care with opportunities to integrate with a larger herd.”
Billy and Tina would join five other Asian elephants at the Tulsa Zoo, which recently expanded its elephant complex to include a 36,650-square-foot barn and a 10-acre wooded preserve.
Courtney Scott, an elephant consultant with animal welfare organization In Defense of Animals, said Tuesday that she had mixed feelings about the L.A. Zoo’s announcement.
“I’m glad that they are at least pausing and hopefully ultimately ending their elephant program,” she said. “It’s very disappointing that they’re sending them to another zoo, especially when you know there has been years and years of efforts through the City Council to send those elephants to a sanctuary.”
A date has not been set for the elephants’ move, so Angelenos still have a chance to visit the animals at Griffith Park.
In Defense of Animals ranked the L.A. Zoo as No. 1 on its “10 Worst Zoos for Elephants” list for the second year in a row this year, citing Billy’s and Tina’s poor health and social isolation.
“Both elephants suffer from severe zoo-related medical problems,” the organization stated in its report. “Billy experiences recurring foot problems — one of the most common causes of death for elephants in zoos — while Tina suffers from osteoarthritis, joint disease, and bouts of lameness.”
In addition, the organization said, both elephants display distributing levels of what they say is zoochotic behavior. Billy is often seen bobbing, pacing and swaying — all signs of brain damage caused by years of captivity, the organization said.
Scott said both animals would be better off at a sanctuary where they have many acres to openly roam in, rather than in the confinement of another zoo enclosure.
Billy’s bobbing is a key reason that members of the public and L.A. City Council have advocated for him to be relocated to a sanctuary.
“I can’t get over Billy’s head-bobbing. Every time I go there, that’s all he does,” then-Councilmember Ed Reyes said during a 2008 City Council discussion over whether to halt construction on the L.A. Zoo’s new elephant habitat in favor of creating a 60-acre preserve in the L.A. Basin. In 2009, the council voted to allow the zoo to complete the exhibit and keep Billy.
Concerns over Billy’s health were once again trumpeted in City Hall in January 2018 when then-Councilmember Paul Koretz advocated for a motion to relocate Billy, citing concerns about his mental and physical health. Koretz tried to move a similar motion forward again in December 2022, but neither advanced to a full-council vote.
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