For years, controversy has swirled around the elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo. Every elephant death was scrutinized; every public hearing about the animals was filled with protesters.
It's no coincidence that the largest land mammal has prompted the largest and longest-running public relations problem for the zoo. Critics contend that the zoo has never had sufficient space to keep the lumbering behemoths.
And there's still not enough space, they argue, in the $42-million "Pachyderm Forest" now under construction. Several weeks ago, zoo officials eagerly showed off the portion that was completed and spoke of how the 3.6 acres would include a waterfall, water holes, mud wallows and varying surfaces for elephants' problem-prone feet to trod.
The project has already been halted once, when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took office and commissioned a study to look into whether it should continue. The report recommended that it move forward, and the City Council approved it in 2006.
Now, Councilman Tony Cardenas has asked that the project be scrapped. Cardenas said that after talking to experts and reviewing veterinary medical records that came to light during a recent, unsuccessful citizen lawsuit to stop elephant-keeping at the zoo, he believes the council made the wrong decision. (He voted for it too.)
On Cardenas' side are a respected elephant wildlife expert and animal welfare advocates. They say the new exhibit is too expensive, too small and not stimulating for its inhabitants. Cardenas believes that the city should instead open an elephant sanctuary of at least 60 acres somewhere in L.A.
Today, the City Council's budget and finance committee is scheduled to meet and discuss whether the zoo project, funded by a bond measure, city money and private donations, should be shut down.
On the other side are the zoo officials and keepers -- the men and women who have spent years bonding with their elephant charges, staying overnight when they were recovering from illnesses, grieving over elephant deaths and tamping down frustration when politicians and activists have told them how to manage elephants.
"We have zoo biologists, zoo scientists, zoo veterinarians," L.A. Zoo Director John Lewis told officials during a recent City Council debate on elephants that lasted half a day. "We promised this council in 2006 to give you the best exhibit we can, and that's what we have provided."
