Demonstrators Sing the Praises of Keeping Elephants at L.A.’s Zoo

Cheering and singing, more than 100 ardent zoo fans rallied in front of the Los Angeles Zoo on Saturday to voice their support for keeping elephants at the Griffith Park facility.

The rally, attended by actress Betty White, was a response to the commissioning of a city study on whether to close the elephant exhibit. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered the study at the behest of animal rights activists who contend that the zoo lacks the scores of acres needed by the lumbering pachyderms.

But passionate fans say that the zoo’s three elephants, Billy, Gita and Ruby, are receiving good care and that removing them would deprive Southern Californians of the chance to appreciate and learn about the animals.

“They’re my life here,” said Theresa Moody, a 20-year-old elephant enthusiast and zoo volunteer from Duarte.

Saturday’s rally was the most recent step in an escalating controversy.

In August, fulfilling a campaign promise, Villaraigosa called for a study to determine whether it is humane to keep elephants in the city-run zoo. Several zoos nationwide have closed their elephant exhibits, including San Francisco’s.

As part of the study, an elephant expert from outside the region examined the zoo’s enclosure. The study should be ready by next week, said Bill Fujioka, the city’s chief administrative officer.

In October, eight animal rights activists protested in front of the zoo, one of them carrying a sign that read “L.A. Zoo is killing their elephants.”

“It’s unfortunate, but the L.A. Zoo isn’t capable of providing the space needed to keep elephants physically and psychologically healthy,” said Catherine Doyle, who works with In Defense of Animals. She participated Saturday in a counter-rally of about eight people at the zoo.

Doyle said elephants should live in packs because they are naturally social animals and should live in large grassy sanctuaries because they need to walk dozens of miles a day to be healthy.

She has also alleged that Gita, a 47-year-old female Asian elephant who has arthritis and had a severe foot infection, is terminally ill. Zoo officials have said she is doing well.

Doyle said a good option for the three elephants would be to send them to a private nonprofit sanctuary run by the Performing Animal Welfare Society in the Sierra foothills.

Tom Mankiewicz, who chairs the board of trustees for the zoo’s fundraising association, said the study was only delaying an expansion of the elephant habitat.

The zoo has already demolished part of the elephants’ old habitat to make way for wading pools, a waterfall and rock formations for the elephants to scratch against, Mankiewicz said. The effort could cost $20 million, some of which could come from a 1996 county bond measure.

“The solution is to have these magnificent creatures to be in a habitat that is kind and nurturing to them,” he said. “I am totally convinced that this is the one we have on the drawing board.”

White, who is on the zoo association’s board, said keeping elephants in the zoo was vital to helping children learn about the animals.

“They see these gorgeous animals and they know we must not let them perish off this Earth,” said the actress, best known for her role on “The Golden Girls.”

Carolina Lopez, a 10-year-old who attended the rally with her family, said she would be devastated if the zoo’s elephants left.

“I run past the other animals to get to the elephants,” said Carolina, whose parents have taken her to the zoo since she was 3.