LA Zoo's Elephant Exhibit Can Stay Open Despite Allegations of Animal Cruelty, Judges Rule

A state appellate court panel today upheld a 2012 ruling by a Superior Court judge allowing the elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo to remain open, but which also directed that its resident pachyderms be given regular exercise and that bull hooks and electrical shock not be used to control them.

The three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 ruling, rejected appeals by both the city and animal rights advocate Aaron Leider. The justices found that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Segal ruled correctly in the longrunning lawsuit that pitted the zoo against Leider, who sought a court order shutting down the Elephants of Asia exhibit.

Leider’s taxpayer suit alleged that the zoo’s conduct violated animal cruelty provisions in the state Penal Code. Segal found problems with the treatment of the animals, but stopped short of closing the exhibit. Leider appealed, but the justices found that Segal ruled properly.

“We agree that the exhibit places the elephants in an unnatural environment that is perhaps only an echo of their life in the wild,” Justice Laurence Rubin wrote. “Setting aside the dangers posed by ivory poachers, we have no doubt the elephants would do better if they were not captive. We also recognize that animal sanctuaries might well provide a better form of captivity, and that a better zoo exhibit might be constructed.”

Nonetheless, the conditions do not amount to abuse or cruelty as defined by the state Penal Code, Rubin wrote.

“Instead, as the trial court observed, the deficiencies in the elephants’ living conditions are in large measure by-products of their captivity,” Rubin wrote.

The justices rejected the city’s argument on appeal that Leider could not base his taxpayer claims on alleged violations of the Penal Code.

In his July 2012 ruling, Segal was sharply critical of conditions at the multimillion-dollar exhibit, which opened in 2010 and replaced the old elephant showcase. He found that the ground the elephants walk on is “hard (rather than) varied and soft, and that the substrate of the exhibit creates a risk of injury to the elephants’ joints, feet and nails.” Leider and the late actor Robert Culp filed the lawsuit against the city in August 2007. Culp, known for starring opposite Bill Cosby in “I Spy,” died in March 2010.

Deputy City Attorney John Carvalho argued that the elephant exhibit was a model for other zoos to follow. But Casselman said Los Angeles Zoo elephants die at an earlier age than in zoos elsewhere in North America; that keepers there have poor record-keeping practices; and that the facility does not have enough qualified veterinarians.

In her dissent, Justice Tricia Bigelow wrote that it appears inevitable that disputes concerning the city’s compliance with the injunctions ordered by Segal will ensue.

“The majority’s decision in this case will empower Leider to bring endless contempt proceedings against the Los Angeles Zoo, all based on injunctions that are contrary to California law,” she wrote.

Leider’s lawsuit was dismissed in May 2008 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley. The lawsuit was revived in September 2009 when another three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered it sent back for trial.

City News Service; Photo: Courtesy of LA Zoo