Elephants Billy and Tina whisked out of L.A. Zoo by evening amid protests, arrive in Tulsa

Regardless of a stream of regular protests and objections because the announcement that Billy and Tina the elephants can be transferred from the Los Angeles Zoo to the Tulsa Zoo, the getting old pachyderms have arrived in Oklahoma.

The L.A. Zoo confirmed in a press release Wednesday morning that Billy and Tina arrived safely on the Tulsa Zoo after a prolonged journey collectively by truck in separate ventilated containers. The drive passed off in a single day in hopes of optimum temperatures for the animals and minimal visitors, however the zoo didn’t present additional particulars on when the transfer started or the precise arrival time in Tulsa.

The L.A. Zoo estimated the elephants’ journey took 22 hours, however the Tulsa Zoo informed The Instances it was nearer to 26 hours.

The assertion got here after advocates for the animals have been involved on the sight of an empty elephant enclosure on the L.A. Zoo on Tuesday.

Advocates have lengthy criticized the L.A. Zoo for its small enclosure measurement for elephants and the historical past of deaths and well being challenges amongst its inhabitants.

The zoo stated the deaths of elephants Jewel, 61, in 2023 and Shaunzi, 53, in 2024 meant the elephant program in L.A. was not in accordance with the requirements set by the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums that require zoos to have not less than three Asian elephants in an enclosure due to their social nature. The one choices from there, to keep up AZA accreditation, have been to switch the 2 remaining elephants, Billy and Tina, or add extra elephants to the small enclosure.

In its assertion, the zoo reiterated that it evaluated all out there choices, together with AZA-accredited sanctuaries, as activists had been pushing for. The zoo additionally stated Mayor Karen Bass “inquired” about shifting the elephants to a sanctuary, however that the choice was made on the advice of the AZA and its Elephant Species Survival Plan.

The Tulsa Zoo was the best choice from the AZA, in keeping with the assertion, due to the scale of the enclosure (about 17 acres of house and a 36,650-square-foot barn), the 5 Asian elephants already there and the truth that Billy and Tina might keep collectively.

The chair of the AZA is the L.A. Zoo’s director and chief govt, Denise Verret.

“Though they are going to be missed, we’re grateful for the outpouring of help from our members, volunteers, employees, and the greater than 1.5 million visitors who go to the Los Angeles Zoo yearly,” the zoo stated in its assertion. “As they start their new chapter, we all know that Billy and Tina will obtain the identical love and skilled individualized care that they’ve had on the Los Angeles Zoo.”

The zoo created an FAQ web page on its web site with further particulars concerning the decision-making course of for the switch, which has been beneath scrutiny from animal activists and Metropolis Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, a longtime advocate of the elephants.

The web site additionally particulars specifics of the shifting course of, saying the elephants have been skilled utilizing “optimistic reinforcement strategies” to voluntarily enter the massive, ventilated transport containers that they have been transported in.

They have been secured utilizing fabric- or leather-lined bracelets, which they wore previous to shifting day to get used to how they felt.

The journey by truck was taken straight by means of, with brief breaks and checks by the workforce of caregivers. Different zoos alongside the route have been “on stand-by” to help if there was an emergency in transit, in keeping with the FAQ web page. The Tulsa Zoo stated in a press release to The Instances on Wednesday that the animals got hay, cantaloupe, romaine and water through the breaks, and that the care workforce stated each Billy and Tina have been calm and ate and drank nicely.

Billy and Tina will endure a “customary quarantine interval,” the Tulsa Zoo stated, and can then spend the subsequent a number of weeks constructing bonds with their new care workforce and assembly the remainder of their new herd.

The L.A. Zoo paid $44,000 for the switch, splitting the fee with the Tulsa Zoo. The zoo stated the fee will “don’t have any affect” on the 2025-26 L.A. metropolis price range.

With the empty house the place Billy and Tina lived, the L.A. Zoo will “reimagine” the world for different appropriate species and programming and can pause its elephant program for the rapid future.

Billy and Tina’s switch passed off regardless of a movement by Blumenfield in Metropolis Council final month to pause the transfer till council members might evaluate the opportunity of sending them to a sanctuary and two pending lawsuits relating to the relocation.

John Kelly, a Los Angeles resident, filed a lawsuit Could 9 in search of to halt the elephants’ switch, however a decide denied an emergency movement for a short lived restraining order within the case final week. On Tuesday, the Nonhuman Rights Challenge filed a petition in courtroom in search of recognition of the elephants’ “proper to liberty” and their launch to an accredited sanctuary.

Elizabeth Stein, the litigation director on the Nonhuman Rights Challenge, stated in a press release Wednesday morning, “We nonetheless have viable authorized choices to safe Billy and Tina’s freedom in an elephant sanctuary, and we’re not stopping.”