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Expert: L.A. Zoo Should Scrap Elephant Exhibit

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Nov 18, 2008 11:34 am US/Pacific

Expert: L.A. Zoo Should Scrap Elephant Exhibit

LOS ANGELES

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Dr. Joyce Poole has recommended that the L.A. Zoo scrap it's plans for an elephant enclosure (file).
CBS 42

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An elephant expert Tuesday suggested that the city of Los Angeles cancel its plans for a $40 million elephant enclosure, which is under construction at the zoo.

Joyce Poole, who has a doctorate in animal behavior and has been studying pachyderms for more than 30 years, made her recommendations alongside City Councilman Tony Cardenas, who has proposed that work on the six-acre exhibit be stopped. He wants the city to open a 60-acre elephant sanctuary in an outlying area instead.

Poole said that Billy, the zoo's only elephant, bobs his head and sways in a way that is "definitely pathological."

"I know that some people believe that elephants do that in the wild, but having observed lephants for many, many years, seeing perhaps 10,000 different individuals ... I have never seen head-bobbing and I have never seen swaying," Poole said.

"This type of behavior is pathological. It is a result of being in a confined space."

Zoo director John Lewis has says Billy has been doing that since he was young.

Instead of housing elephants at the zoo in Griffith Park, Poole suggested the city create a multimedia exhibit to educate people about elephants.

"I think that you could do an absolutely fabulous exhibit at the zoo for elephants that didn't actually involve any living elephants," she said.

"Say you get an IMAX theater or you have a Web cam and you interact with a project in the wild and contribute toward conservation in the wild, that would really be helping elephants."

The Los Angeles City Council will consider Cardenas' idea tomorrow. Two weeks ago, a council committee rejected a move to halt work on the $10.2 million elephant habitat.