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ANIMAL WATCH - In a stunning development, philanthropist and retired trial lawyer David Casselman has offered to fully fund the relocation and lifetime care of Billy and Tina, two ailing Asian elephants held at the Los Angeles Zoo, to the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary — a lush, spacious refuge he co-founded. The announcement came during a rally on Saturday organized by In Defense of Animals, and co-hosted by Elephant Guardians of Los Angeles, Los Angeles for Animals, and Ecoflix, Casselman’s not-for-profit media group dedicated to saving animals and the planet.
This urgent offer comes just as the Los Angeles Zoo was named the No. 1 Worst Zoo for Elephants for the second consecutive year by In Defense of Animals, due to the dire conditions suffered by its two aging, ailing captives in inadequate, harmful conditions.
Casselman’s bold offer comes at a time when the City of Los Angeles is grappling with a $1 billion budget shortfall. With public trust in spending under intense scrutiny, Casselman’s message to City Councilmembers was crystal clear: “You don’t have to pay anything. Just get out of the way.”
Casselman, who previously filed a lawsuit against the zoo, told the crowd of over 30 elephant advocates, including prominent attorneys, lawmakers, and animal welfare organizations:
I am in the process of working with a team of people and we can do this. We can crate Billy, we can take Tina with him, and we can move them both to Cambodia — they’ll have all the space in the most lovely existence for an elephant you can imagine. All we need to do is convince the city council to just let them go. And this is no longer a situation where they can complain, “well, we'd have to pay millions of dollars to send them to sanctuary.” No, you don't have to pay anything. Just get out of the way, let us take care of it. We'll have them crate trained in 30 days and on an airplane.
He cited the successful relocation and recovery of Kaavan, “the world's loneliest elephant,” who was transferred from the Islamabad Zoo to Casselman’s sanctuary in Cambodia, where Kaavan has since made a full recovery from his zoochosis.
Former Los Angeles City Councilor Paul Koretz, a longtime advocate to free Billy, urged city leaders to send 40-year-old Billy and 58-year-old Tina to a sanctuary while there is still time to save them. He said,
Ruby the elephant was released by Mayor Villaraigosa a number of years ago and sent to a sanctuary. And this is certainly something to point out to the zoo, which is, we've done it before. They say, “it can’t be done, we'll lose our accreditation, the zoo will be gone,” well it's still here, and that elephant was happily running up and down the hills, and playing in the mud puddles and doing all the things elephants do.
Joshua Marin-Mora, Field Representative for Assemblyman Rick Chavez-Zbur, reaffirmed the Assemblyman’s unwavering commitment to securing the elephants’ freedom.
Board-certified psychiatrist Dr. Marilyn Kroplick, CEO and President of In Defense of Animals, explained the devastating psychological toll captivity inflicts on elephants, comparing their suffering to PTSD in humans.
“The science is clear,” said Kroplick. “Captivity causes immense emotional and physical suffering for elephants. Billy and Tina are in a state of trauma — and we now have the means to help them recover.”
Courtney Scott, Elephant Consultant for In Defense of Animals, welcomed Casselman’s offer and urged the City Council to act immediately:
This is an opportunity to do the right thing. Every day Billy and Tina remain confined in this barren, inadequate enclosure, they suffer. The time for change is now. These elephants are telling us they are in pain through their disturbed, unnatural behavior. Instead of dying in captivity, they can roam, forage, and begin to heal from decades of suffering in a sanctuary designed to rehabilitate abused Asian elephants in their natural habitat. We are calling on City Councilmembers to accept this gift now and give Billy and Tina the freedom they deserve before it’s too late.
The urgency of this issue cannot be overstated. Billy and Tina are in grave distress, suffering from severe medical conditions including foot and joint disease and chronic arthritis. Both display profound zoochosis — a condition marked by repetitive behaviors such as swaying, bobbing, and pacing, which are clear signs of psychological trauma and brain damage.
During a high-profile lawsuit filed in 2007 by attorney David Casselman against the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Zoo, world-renowned elephant expert Dr. Joyce Poole testified that in her 40 years of observing wild elephants, she has never seen such abnormal behaviors — powerful evidence that Billy and Tina are suffering in extreme psychological and physical agony. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ultimately ruled that the zoo was harming Billy by using bullhooks and forcing him to perform unnatural behaviors.
“Contrary to what the zoo’s representatives told the Los Angeles City Council… the elephants are not healthy, happy, or thriving,” said Judge John Segal.
Sanctuaries in the U.S. or abroad on their native continent in Cambodia can provide the space, care, and dignity Billy and Tina have been denied for decades and so urgently deserve.
Six California zoos — including the Oakland Zoo, which sent its last elephant to sanctuary in 2024 — have already closed their exhibits. The Los Angeles Zoo, which has now appeared on In Defense of Animals’ 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants list nine times, is under mounting public and political pressure to urgently retire its elephants before Billy and Tina meet the same tragic fate as 20 elephants who have died at the zoo before them.
Scott added,
It’s time for the LA Zoo to do what 38 other zoos have already done — shut down its elephant exhibit once and for all. The LA Zoo must follow suit before another elephant dies behind its walls.
(In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a history of defending animals, humans, and the environment through education and campaigns, as well as hands-on rescue facilities throughout the United States, India, and South Korea since 1983. www.idausa.org/elephants)
