"Belles," Captive Animals And Fur Coats!!! I Got Your Political Correctness Right Here!!!!

'Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder just what the hell "a young American teenage girl" really knows about elephants or any other animal for that matter "in captivity" given here experience with cats?   Do you suppose she knows more then the "Belles" pictured above? 

Amid battle over L.A. Zoo elephants, Harvard-Westlake student is lauded for activism, but a lawsuit looms over 'Elephant Girl' film

 As a trial is underway challenging the city's $42 million elephant exhibit, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday saluted a 16-year-old activist who has made elephant welfare her life's work.
Juliette West, an 11th grader at Harvard-Westlake School, has been involved in animal welfare issues for seven years and was presented with a special proclamation as the council declared Aug. 3 to be Elephant Awareness Day.
"Elephant Awareness Day will be a great way to get people's attention," said West, the so-called "elephant girl" at the center of a recent film, "How I Became an Elephant."
A lawsuit being heard this week in Los Angeles Superior Court claims the zoo's six-acre Elephants of Asia exhibit is too small.
Councilman Tony Cardenas, who has fought the exhibit, said he still believes it is the wrong place for Billy the elephant and would prefer to see him placed in a more natural environment where he could roam freely.
There are also two other elephants currently at the Los Angeles Zoo, on loan from the San Diego Zoo.
"I wanted to create a sanctuary for him, but that was not possible," Cardenas said. "There is still a chance we could do something if some developer has a sizable piece of land they are willing to donate to the city."
Cardenas said the zoo exhibit could be modified to include other pachyderms, such as rhinos and other species.
West said she became involved with animal issues at age 9 when she adopted a cat.

"I just became fascinated with animal issues and stayed involved," she said, adding she receives support from her family and friends and sees herself as providing education to others on the needs of animals. The 2010 documentary starring West tells the story of an elephant suffering in captivity as seen through the eyes of a young American teenage girl who comes of age as an elephant activist. But in a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed late last year, two Los Angeles animal activists accused West's father and a producer of stealing their idea for the film. Melya Kaplan alleges she and writer Nancy Gershwin three years ago approached West's father, hedge fund manager Lee West, about making an advocacy film called "Elephant Girl" with the exact same plot, according to the complaint. They would even mentor the Pacific Palisades teen for the role. "I believe Juliette needs more time with you one on one," said the senior West in an April 2009 email to Kaplan, included in the complaint. "Your ideas have to be put to her as well as your arguments; it will eventually become hers as she says it in her own words. "But now she is too timid to speak out without rehearsal and ammunition that must/should come from you." But after many discussions about making the movie, Kaplan and Gershwin allege West and author and filmmaker Michael Tobias had their own film -- also starring Juliette -- produced behind their backs. The activists' lawsuit, filed Nov. 22 in Beverly Hills Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages. No trial date has been set. Tarzana-based attorney David Casselman, who represents West in the case, as well as the plaintiff in the lawsuit trying to shutter the elephant exhibit, could not be immediately reached for comment. The lawsuit against the city was first filed by actor Robert Culp. After he died, other activists pursued it.