Jan 11, 2009 9:26 pm US/Pacific
L.A. Zoo Keepers Call On City To Finish Exhibit
LOS ANGELES
-
-
Billy the pachyderm Asian elephant.
CBS
The Los Angeles Zoo's elephant keepers said today the sex life of their lone elephant is destined to be very poor, unless the city council approves completion of the halfway-finished pachyderm exhibit.
More importantly, building a permanent home for Billy means female elephants can be brought to the zoo for a breeding program, said zookeeper Vicky Guarnett.
"He is not represented in the gene pool anywhere and he has never fathered any calf anywhere," Guarnett told a KNX reporter. Sending him to an elephant sanctuary, where elephants are typically not bred, would mean Billy's gene pool would be lost to eternity at a time that the worldwide gene pool is shrinking, she said.
The elephant keeper spoke at a morning news conference where the zookeeper's union ratcheted up pressure on the city council to approve completion of the "Pachyderm Forest" breeding and exhibit center at the L.A. Zoo. City voters approved plans for the elephant center, designed to replace crowded exhibits, by a 79 percent vote in 2004.
Elephant supporters plan a week's worth of pro-zoo activities leading up to Friday's city council meeting, when a final decision on the "Pachyderm Forest" project is scheduled. Guarnett told KNX the ability of tens of thousands of schoolchildren to see elephants up close are important to educate people about animals on the verge of destruction.
"There's literally thousands of school children who come here every day, and the noise is so deafening of them talking to him," she told the radio station.
Unionized zookeepers have stressed that their jobs are not the reason why they are campaigning for the new elephant enclosure, but said they have the best interests Billy in particular, and elephants in general, at heart.
A loose coalition of animal rights activists has convinced the Los Angeles City Council to tentatively wave off completion of a new enclosure for pachyderms.
But the animal keepers said the "Pachyderm Forest" enclosure would be good for Billy, who has been at the L.A. Zoo since 1994. They are backed by city employee unions and such animal rights activists as Betty White and Jack Hanna.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
