This petition is submitted to address the decades-long intentional and dishonest  mistreatment of Billy, a bull elephant who has been suffering beyond any human comparisons in the Los Angeles Zoo for the past 32 years.   

PLEASE WATCH THE "FREE BILLY" TRAILER EXCLUSIVELY ON ECOFLIX.COM! https://watch.ecoflix.com/videos/free-billy

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Fully aware of his suffering and the much more humane alternatives which have long been available, the City Council and its Zoo systematically lies to the public and likely to themselves.  Imagine a human prisoner, locked in solitary confinement for over 32 years.  No court in the world would find that to be permissible treatment.  It is pure torture.  Then add the fact that this prisoner would have to be barefoot and stand on concrete, with no appropriate place to sit down.  Finally, add the requirement that this poor prisoner would have to perform tricks at the pleasure of the guards and would not be permitted any visitors or human company of any kind. 

Is this inhumane treatment?  Without question!  It is no less inhumane for elephants, which are arguably more social than people, living in matriarchal families for almost all of their lives.  Yet, this has been the life of Billy for most of his 32 years here.  He was always the lone bull elephant, and only recently has he  even been allowed to touch another elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo.  Even so, not enough members of the Los Angeles City Council are willing to do a damn thing about it!

But, in truth, the problems only start there. The Council claims it does not know the truth, willingly accepting Zoo officials' lies, without digging any deeper to find the truth. They clearly pretend they do not have it, but the truth is: they do not care  about the truth!  Elephants don’t vote…and so long as they keep the truth from the people who do, they win, Billy loses.  The fact is that world class experts have flown to L.A., studied this Zoo, examined their elephants, and told them they are suffering because their zoo it is not fit for elephants.  But, the Council ignores the truth and allows the Zoo officials to lie to them. 

Telling the Council that all of their elephants were healthy and well, they convinced them to pay $42 million dollars to “improve the elephant exhibit.” In so doing, the Zoo managed to lull the Council into ignoring the truth provided to them by independent, world renown elephant experts.   And so, mere days after giving the Zoo what it wanted, the truth was exposed.  The very elephant they assured the Council was healthy and well, died of a years-long battle with foot and legs abscesses and problems caused by the same horrific conditions which remain to this day.  As established by the trial record, the same terrible conditions remain to this day.

The City Council seems to accept the Zoo officials' lies because it pleases the people who provide them with political support.  Voters and donors apparently matter to them much more than the horrific, growing list of dead elephants in the L.A. Zoo, who do not complain and who cannot donate or vote.

The City Council has a duty of care that requires far more than simply finding ways to sell tickets.  The charade they have created at the Zoo is plainly designed to justify, not redress the many years of neglect and suffering of their elephants.  Decades ago perhaps they could have been forgiven for their misguided actions towards Billy and other elephants who have already died in their care.  However, given what they now know about his daily suffering, including severe physical pain, growing emotional anxiety and decades of extreme isolation, there can no longer be any excuse for their inaction.

With your help, Billy could be freed and allowed to go to a sanctuary, where he belongs.  With your help we can secure a better future for him.  He was born free.  That was stolen from him.  Now, the best we can do for him is to break him out of jail and help him live out his life in the peace of a qualified sanctuary, with other elephants.  He deserve to live in a place that will heal, not harm him.

Almost all of the evidence about Billy’s suffering and the denial of this Zoo has been exposed in a new documentary, "Free Billy", now available on Ecoflix, the first nonprofit streaming video service for animals and the planet.  (www.ecoflix.com)  It chronicles his life of suffering in a facility that forces him to walk on a pathway which is quickly compacted by his weight, transforming it into the same hardness as concrete.  This was measured and proven by experts, under oath, in a courtroom in Los Angeles. 

Billy is also tempted daily by grass and trees near the pathway he walks along. He cannot leave that pathway to browse on this greenery because all of these areas are hot wired to shock him if he gives in to his natural urge to act like an elephant.  Why?  The Zoo says that allowing him to eat the nearby vegetation, as he would do in the wild, would harm the aesthetics for visitors to the Zoo.  So, he must live between the buzzing of hot wires all around his pen, remaining on the compacted hard ground day in and day out. 

Plus, he is regularly forced to perform tricks which he was taught through the use of unbelievably cruel methods. He knows all too well what the Zoo officials would do to him if he refused to perform on command.  So, day in and day out, he complies.

All of these facts were proven in trial, and have now been documented publicly in “Free Billy” for the first time!

Without action now, Billy will surely die in the Los Angeles Zoo like 17 other elephants before him.  You can help us save him.  How?  What can we do?

First, we can all sign this petition and let the Los Angeles Zoo know that the world is watching and demanding humane action!  Free Billy to a sanctuary, now! 

We must make it clear to the City Council and its Zoo that we are no longer in the dark.  We are no longer unaware of the life-threatening problems they have been concealing. They can no longer bury the truth.  

The facts have now been publicly exposed in "Free Billy", including the official findings of the trial judge who concluded that virtually all of the Zoo representations about its excellent treatment of Billy and other elephants were plainly false.

Without moving Billy to a sanctuary, and very soon, he will suffer more foot and leg problems, which are the most common cause of captive elephant deaths. The space provided for Billy and other elephants is not just grossly inadequate by comparison to the hundreds of miles they roam in the wild, it is far too small for their very survival!  The ground inside his tiny pens is rapidly compacted.  Foot and leg injuries associated with standing on hard ground are the predominant cause of captive elephant deaths worldwide.

But truly, there is hope.  Two excellent sanctuaries are willing to provide a home for Billy.  One is PAWS, a well-known sanctuary in northern California, and the other is the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS).  CWS recently provided an amazing jungle home for Kaavan, another captive bull elephant, recently rescued and transported there from the Islamabad Zoo.  Kaavan is now blissfully enjoying his jungle home in Cambodia, with foliage very similar to nearby Sri Lanka where he was born.

Meanwhile, Billy continues to suffer. He has long exhibited severe mental illness, routinely brought on by the isolation elephants routinely suffer in zoo and circus environments. Fortunately, Kaavan has now proven that transformational healing can and will occur if an elephant like Billy is provided with an adequate and enriching environment.  He and Billy are both from Southeast Asia.  Billy was born in Malaysia, and they are almost the exact same age.  Two bull elephants sharing a large jungle sanctuary would be a remarkably positive outcome for both of them.

It is past time to let the Los Angeles Zoo and the Los Angeles City Council hear from all of us!  They need to understand that it is long past the time they should have released Billy. He has paid an unbelievable price for the crime of being captured as a four year old...essentially the same maturity as a four year old human baby..  It is time he is allowed to leave this L.A. jail facility.  Let him become an elephant again. 

For everyone who is interested and willing to help, please sign this petition and let the Zoo officials hear your voice! 

At the same time, please also let the City Council know how you feel about their willful indifference and ongoing dishonesty. If you go to www.ecoflix.com you will find an entire page of contact information for the relevant City and Council officials.  Make sure that they hear your voice and your earnest desire to convince them to free Billy now!

Let us all raise our voices together.  Collectively we can be the change we want to see!  Billy needs us! This is likely his last chance for freedom.  Please help us help him!

Billy deserves freedom!  Your support in signing this petition and sending emails to the City Council can be his magic ticket to freedom.

Please do it now.  Help us Free Billy!