After the Los Angeles Zoo shared its decision to relocate its two remaining elephants to Tulsa, some animal activists say they should be sent elsewhere. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
The Los Angeles Zoo announced Tuesday that it will relocate its only two remaining Asian elephants to an expansive preserve at the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma.
The move of elephants Billy, 40, and Tina. 59, brings to a close a decades-long debate over the welfare of the animals. They will be relocated to the the Elephant Experience and Preserve in Tulsa, which is home to five Asian elephants.
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Zoo officials said the decision was made with the animals' care and well-being as the top priority. The relocation "will afford them the opportunity to live among other elephants."
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SIGN UP After the deaths of Shaunzi, 53, in January of 2024 and 61-year-old Jewel, who died a year earlier, Billy and Tina became the only two elephants remaining at the Los Angeles Zoo.
Shaunzi and Jewel were in declining health unrelated to the zoo's enclosure or care, the Zoo said. They were euthanized due to age-related health issues.
The elephants program underwent an evaluation over the past year. The decision to move the elephants was not related to recent proposals to close a significant city of Los Angeles budget deficit, the Zoo said.
"The Los Angeles Zoo works tirelessly to assure that all its animals, including the elephants, receive the best care possible, and visitors have enjoyed watching the Zoo’s elephants for years," the LA Zoo said in its announcement. "The decision is driven by the L.A. Zoo’s unwavering commitment to the health and wellbeing of all the animals in its care."
The Zoo plans to pause its elephant program for the immediate future.
The newly expanded preserve in Oklahoma is a 17-acre complex that has a 36,650-square-foot elephant barn and a 10-plus acre wooded preserve.
A date for the relocation hasn't be scheduled.
On Wednesday, City Councilman Bob Blumenfield introduced a motion calling for the zoo to hold off on the move until additional options are explored. It was not immediately clear what immediate impact the motion would have on the planned move.
Billy came to Los Angeles as a 4-year-old calf from peninsular Malaysia in 1989. At the time, Malaysia was relocating wild elephants that were damaging palm oil and rubber plantations due to the animals' habitat that was fragmented by agricultural activity. Some elephants were relocated to other tracts of habitat, others were sent to zoos to prevent them from being culled with herds that had been identified as problematic.
Tina came to the LA Zoo from the San Diego Zoo in 2010, along with companion Jewel. The two elephants had spent 30 years together in private ownership before they were confiscated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and brought to San Diego for recovery and rehabilitation.
The Zoo called both elephants excellent ambassador for their species who helped teach millions of zoo visitors about the threats faced by elephants.
