A judge denied a temporary restraining order on Thursday seeking to stop the Los Angeles Zoo from transferring two beloved elephants to a zoo in Oklahoma.
An L.A. resident sued the zoo last Friday over its decision to move elephants Tina and Billy to the Tulsa Zoo, arguing that they should instead be sent to an animal sanctuary. His lawyers then filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order on Tuesday.
Melissa Lerner, the lawyer representing the plaintiff, told reporters outside the courtroom on Thursday that the judge denied the motion “largely on the basis that this is an issue that should be addressed by the City Council and Mayor Karen Bass,” adding that the judge “encouraged the public to reach out to their council members and to Mayor Bass and to tell them that this is unconscionable and unacceptable.”
Animal rights advocates have criticized the L.A. Zoo for decades for holding elephants in a relatively small enclosure, which they say causes serious health issues. Two elephants were euthanized in the last few years because of health issues that the zoo said were age-related, leaving only Billy and Tina, who live in separate enclosures in an elephant habitat of about 6.5 acres.
The zoo announced it would be transferring the pachyderms to a spacious elephant complex at the Tulsa Zoo in late April, sparking further criticism.
Outside the courtroom, Lerner continued to call on the mayor to act.
“Mayor Karen Bass can resolve this with one phone call — it is not difficult,” Lerner said. “We wish she would rise to the occasion and do the right thing here. She has the power to intervene and prevent their transfer before it’s too late.”
A representative for the mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The emergency filing cited the urgency of the case, noting that the transfer could happen at any moment and that transporting elephants can pose serious health risks. It urged the judge to “maintain the status quo” by keeping Billy and Tina in L.A. until the court had more time to review the case.
Much of the contents of the initial lawsuit, including a declaration from the singer Cher, discussed how the decision-making process to transfer the animals was made without input from the public or from City Council.
In its first statement since the lawsuit was filed, the L.A. Zoo said Thursday morning that the “difficult decision” to relocate Billy and Tina was made in accordance with recommendations from and consultations with the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums and its Elephant Species Survival Plan.
“The care and wellbeing of the animals is always a top priority and decisions impacting the animals are made at discretion of the Zoo Director — an authority granted in the Los Angeles City Charter. Activist agendas and protests are rightfully not a consideration in decisions that impact animal care,” the statement said.
L.A. Zoo Director and Chief Executive Denise Verret is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
L.A. City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, a longtime advocate for the elephants, filed a motion last month seeking to pause their relocation until the City Council could review the possibility of sending them to a sanctuary.
At a budget hearing last week, Blumenfield asked Verret a series of questions about the elephants. In a hearing on May 8 where the Council member and zoo director went head-to-head on the issue, Verret said as of that date that the L.A. and Tulsa zoos had not yet signed a contract and no date had been set for the transfer.
