By Victoria Minetta
I think it’s time to remind the world about Billy the elephant. You remember Billy right? He is the lone pachyderm living out his life sentence at the LA Zoo, imposed by a cruel and inhumane City Council. This is the same City Council that is now about to fire at least 1,000 city employees, to close a budget gap of a few hundred million dollars. In the interest of disclosure, I just might be one of those city employees. But don’t cry for me Slash or Betty White, I’m happy to move on if that’s what fate has in store for me. Slash and Betty you may recall, were the only two “celebrities” that the anti-freedom for Billy camp could come up with. No more Golden Girls reruns for me! And no offense but I never listened to GNR to begin with. I like my cochlea too much.
If I do become a casualty of the economy though, I feel it’s a good excuse to become the pet sitter I’ve always wanted to be. It’s no secret that I love animals much more than people. Mind you I will need to garner some prestigious clients in order to match my salary at City Hall. Maybe Cher, Lily Tomlin, Bob Barker or Jorja Fox will need some litter boxes cleaned, or best friends walked. They are the champions who took time to come to City Hall to speak out for Billy when there was a glimmer of hope that he might go to a sanctuary.
Billy has no companionship of his own species at the Zoo, and he spends most of his time bobbing his head up and down like an abused child or a neglected orphan. Elephants in zoos across the country are being freed regularly, due to the pretty common sense thinking that creatures so large need room to roam. I sometimes wonder when exactly LA became so backwards-thinking. When I moved here from Florida eleven years ago to chase my dreams of playing drums in a rock band, I really thought LA was the hippest place. But how can a city that would rather fire people than free an elephant be anything but yesterday’s crock-pot creation?
Not only is the city spending $42 million dollars to chain Billy up, they will most certainly spend millions more on his foot care and the diabolical plan to bring yet more elephants here for a “breeding” program. I just happen to be reading a book on the Nazis’ freaky eugenics plans and I can’t help but see a correlation between them, and people who feel they can lord over animals in such a cruel and injurious way.
I’m not sure what anybody can do at this point, because all rational thinking seems to have gone the way of the Do- Do Bird in Los Angeles (and California for that matter.) But if you have the inclination, and aren’t totally jaded by politics the way I am, please call Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (213) 978-0600 and tell him to Free Billy. He can even keep me chained to my desk as a trade.
Bravo – what a wonderful letter. Thank you – I was one of the people that was present “for” Billy throughout the farce that was enacted at City Council last year. Thank you – and may you find joy in your new career with animals – if that is indeed what destiny has in store for you. Thank you again.
Brilliant, brave and right on!!!
V, it boggles me to no end that those who run a city (or any city) would prefer to lay off hard working people in lieu of humanity. Especially in this kind of shaky economy. I sometimes wonder why we even bother to keep animals (who technically belong in the wild, not in oversized cages we lovingly refer to as zoos) if we’re not going to grant them any kind of treatment. Sort of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?
Gotta love our “priorities.”
I loved your thoughts about City Council, Betty White & Slash, and poor Billy who still languishes at the zoo while a barn, next to another rescued bull elephant, awaits him at PAWS Sanctuary in Northern California. Thank you for showing wisdom, fiscal & humane responsibility and compassion. The lawsuit to free Billy is imminent and we will win! “Elephants don’t live in zoos; they die there!” Please keep writing…
Victoria, thank you for this! I was appalled at the apparent ease at which Mayor V made City Council’s decision to deliberate the 1,000 layoffs irrelevant. But at the same time, I couldn’t help wondering why it was so seemingly effortless for him to send 1,000 city workers to the unemployment line when he couldn’t even live up to his campaign promise and send one lonely elephant to a sanctuary at zero cost to the City. Despite the bureaucracy which seems to thwart the cause at every turn, we’ll never give up! FREE BILLY!
Nice piece! So glad Billy has advocates like you out there!
Even Bob Barker offered to pay 1.5 million dollars to relocate Billy to a sanctuary. Come to the LA Zoo and see how sad and depressed the Noah’s Arc of animals seem to be. The issue here in Los Angeles is that thousands of city employees are loosing jobs, but the money is there to imprison a clearly unhappy elephant who bobs his head up and down all day. Thanks for getting this message out there Victoria!
Zoos, circuses, and factory farms are all harbors of cruelty and torture to animals of varying degrees. We keep them going by our patronage of these facilities and by our consumption of animal products. Someday society will look back on these practices as we now look back on enslavement of Africans and Jews and others kept in concentration camps. And the torture animals suffer in factory farms is far worse.
Well done, V!! Beautifully written and compassionately conveyed. I hope your voice will someday be heard above the clouds of smug hypocrisy that egotistically stroke the California mountaintops daily. xoxo
Thank Councilmember Tom LaBonge and mayor V for this. When I spoke with LaBonge to voice my concern about not only Billy and the other elephants he was both condescending and arrogant. He basically said he didn’t care what the “animal activists” had to say about the issue. To LaBonge and his affluent socailite LA Zoo boardmembers Billy and the other elephants are merely trophies.
And on the heels of the mayor’s announcement to cut three thousand city jobs perhaps its time to remind taxpayers that the new zoo enclosure has a price tag of over $42-million.
Excellent post V!
I live in NJ, but I am making the call to the Mayor’s office today. I also will let them know I am going to start a “skip LA if you are going to California for vacation campaign” ,since it is a major stop for most East coasters when they travel. Who are these idiots who want to keep this animal in such horrible conditions? It will save the city money and help make it look like sane people do live there for those of us who truly are questioning the sanity of this whole inhumane political use of a poor animal.
Excellent article!! Thanks for reminding us all that animals have no voice, so we must speak for them. I hate to say this but, if you do become a victim to budget cuts, we can look forward to more blogs that make us think and remember that there are bigger things than ourselves. Thanks for reminding us about Billy, WELL DONE!!!
Great post. I totally agree. I spoke at the Zoo Commission about freeing Billy, Gita and Ruby, obviously before Gita died. Billy obviously is cage crazy. It’s so sad to see him in his enclosure bobbing his head. He needs to go to a sanctuary.
Animal Advocates
I couldn’t agree more, Victoria. I’ve always found it terribly sad to see elephants in a zoo, but Billy’s story is particularly tragic. When will people realize wild animals are wild? Thank you for writing such a compelling piece and reminding readers of Billy. I’m a fan of your writing!