However, zookeepers were passionate about their interaction with elephants in general and Billy, their sole charge at the moment, in particular.
"No disrespect -- I love you, Cher -- but if you want to know about a concert, talk to Cher," senior animal keeper Joshua Sisk told the council. "If you want to know how to spin a wheel, talk to Bob Barker. Let's talk to professionals at the zoo who care for animals, if you want to know about the zoo. Billy has never seen electric shock. He's basically been in a sanctuary in the middle of the city."
Supporters of the exhibit cheered and screamed in approval.
Moved to speak again, Tomlin popped up from her seat and approached the podium, defying the council's order of speakers.
"Mr. Garcetti, I have to speak out," she began.
"No! No!" opponents in the crowd shouted as a uniformed guard charged with making sure everyone follows the rules approached her shaking his head no..
"Ms. Tomlin, we have to go in order," Garcetti said gently. "We will return to the other side."
Not far from Cher sat Maria Elena Durazo, the head of the powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which plays a huge role in the election of council members and other elected city leaders.
The federation, along with the Service Employees International Union Local 721, had argued that completion of the elephant enclosure would preserve much-needed construction jobs. Though Durazo didn't speak, she sent council members a letter urging them to support the exhibit and sat in the front row throughout the debate -- something she rarely does.
It was Councilman Tony Cardenas who prompted this reexamination of the zoo exhibit last fall.
He said at the time that an examination of zoo veterinary medical records -- recently obtained through the Freedom of Information Act -- along with information from animal advocates and wildlife experts had convinced him the exhibit needed to be stopped. He had strongly argued in the last few months that the zoo's history of elephant deaths, as well as Billy's constant head-bobbing -- considered by some to be a sign of stress in captive animals -- were signs that elephants don't do well in zoos.
He declined to speak about the vote, instead issuing a one-sentence statement that said, in part, "Today, the council sent a frightening message to the public that, even in light of new facts, politics trumps the truth."
Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who had been a staunch opponent of the exhibit, was the surprise reversal. "If it's going to cost more to shut it down," he said, citing warnings by city financial analysts that there would be hefty costs associated with redesigning the space for other animals, "and I have faith in the people at the zoo, I'm switching my vote."
Once the exhibit is completed -- around 2010 -- the zoo plans to bring in more Asian elephants, an endangered species, for an ambitious breeding program.
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carla.hall@latimes.com
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
