Councilman seeks elephant haven instead of zoo exhibit

Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas announced Tuesday that he would ask the City Council to outlaw the keeping of elephants at the L.A. Zoo and instead establish a city sanctuary for pachyderms.

For the Los Angeles Zoo, a city agency, that’s one more bump in the road to building its new $40-million elephant exhibit.

Cardenas said he believes the city can find a suitable 50- to 100-acre parcel, perhaps in the San Fernando Valley.

“First and foremost, this is a humanitarian effort,” said Cardenas, who now joins the ranks of animal welfare advocates who say it is cruel to keep the giant mammals in enclosures that may measure a few acres but don’t allow them to roam for miles as they do in the wild.

Zoo officials countered Cardenas’ morning announcement at City Hall with a news conference inside the gate already erected at one end of the grounds of the new exhibit, which they said was about 30% complete. Zoo Director John Lewis said the varied features of the 3 1/2 acres of exhibit space would offer enrichment for as many as six or seven Asian elephants.

“Just down the hill here is going to be a pool where the elephants can wade and waddle in the mud,” he told reporters. “Behind you all is an area where there’s going to be a waterfall where they can shower themselves. In the front of the exhibit will be a deep pool where the elephants can swim and submerge themselves.”

-- Carla Hall