For the Defense and for the Prosecution--Presided over by Judge Billy

For the Defense:

The impressive and also controversial $42 million Elephants of Asia exhibit at the LA Zoo opened to the public Thursday. The exhibit has been hotly contested by animal rights activists, but Wednesday night the zoo hosted an opening party with “200 VIP guests, some B-listers and a performance by Slash,” reports the LA Weekly.

Yes, Slash, of Guns N’ Roses fame.

Slash says his early childhood in London revolved around trips to the museum and zoo, where he began his longtime love of reptiles. (You’ll remember his side project is called Slash’s Snakepit.)

“So when I moved to Los Angles in 1970, then the LA Zoo became the spot,” he tells KPCC’s Hettie Lynne Hurtes. “So I’ve been hanging out at the zoo ever since I was 5-years-old”

He’s now a LA Zoo board member and an adamant supporter of the 6-acre Elephants of Asia exhibit, which has been at the center of an ongoing legal dispute. The new elephant habitat is home to longtime zoo resident Billy, a male Asian elephant, who last month started sharing his digs with females Jewel and Tina, on loan from the San Diego Zoo. Animal rights activists say it's too small and too expensive.

Slash disagrees.

“I just jumped right in support of Billy and the zoo and the whole development that was happening,” he says.

“Most of these individuals who are being vocal about it have never even met Billy or been to the zoo. It was silly and I didn’t think they had a leg to stand on so I wasn’t surprised that we won.” (Not exactly. A judge last week ruled the habitat could open, reports the Associated Press, but also said a lawsuit, originally filed in 2007 by the late actor Robert Culp, could continue.)

Slash says the exhibit — which features watering holes, actives meant to keep the elephants engaged and observation decks — was in response to the zoo’s struggle to provide proper housing for a young male elephant, and make space to introduce more elephants for possible mating.

“The way that the elephant exhibit was in the past was sort of stereotypical of an elephant exhibit in an old-fashioned sort of zoo setting," he says. "Nothing necessarily surprisingly wrong with it but nothing surprisingly great about it. It was just a big flat space with a tree in it.”

The elephant habitat isn’t the only “radical change” going on at the zoo, notes Slash. There’s also a new reptile house in the works, which is “right up my alley,” he says.

For the Prosecution:

During the holidays, the new Elephants of Asia exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo drew big crowds. Zoo officials say they’ve greeted as many 10,000 visitors a day. However, one opponent eager to shut down the exhibit that opened in mid-December has his own plans for an elephant sanctuary this year.

Leading the legal fight is Tarzana-based trial attorney David Casselman. His firm is handling the lawsuit against LA Zoo for free.

“While elephants are forced to stay in zoos, they really don’t live in zoos,” says Casselman. “They die in zoos.”

Casselman says he wants to help change that, so he’s establishing a wildlife sanctuary near the Angkor Temples in Cambodia. He plans to open a veterinary hospital there this year, and Casselman says he’s covered most expenses to develop the million-acre jungle preserve.

“We’re hoping to have ponds and underground viewing area for elephants and tigers, Clouded Leopards and other animals,” he explains.

And, he hopes, to open it up for eco-tourism in a couple of years.

LA Zoo Director John Lewis says its $42 million exhibit, about 6 square acres, includes some elements that activists like Casselman say the animals need — and brings the experience of life in the wild closer to home.

“We’ve listened to what they were saying,” says Lewis. “I think we’ve incorporated a lot of things that when the public look at it and considers it, they’ll see that we took good care of the animals.”

The Elephants of Asia Exhibit — the largest habitat the LA Zoo’s ever built — houses Billy the bull and females Tina and Jewel now. Zoo officials say it can accommodate nine more elephants.

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I sure do commend Director John Lewis and associates for sticking to their guns and seeing this thing through. Detroit Zoo's Ron Kagan would have surrendered and run for cover long ago. If you don't recall who Ron Kagan is:

Where Most Needed: Detroit Zoo Director Survives Bull Charge

Also check out Slash's website, which has a picture of the new elephant house. Leave a comment and thank him for his gracious help and support as a board member of the zoo:

Slash – Official Website