IDA Files Grand Jury Complaint Against Los Angeles Zoo

On August 4, In Defense of Animals (IDA) filed a civil Grand Jury Complaint against the Los Angeles Zoo. We seek an investigation of the zoo for gross malfeasance and unethical behavior in its actions to secure approval of a $42 million elephant exhibit expansion. Click here to read the full Grand Jury Complaint.

“The Los Angeles Zoo, a city agency, has engaged in a pattern of practice that includes repeated cover ups, illegal withholding of public records, tampering with public documents, and misleading City Council members in a way that may well have changed the outcome of the vote to keep elephants at the zoo," said Catherine Doyle, who filed the citizen complaint as a Los Angeles resident and IDA elephant welfare specialist.

Some of the charges against the zoo are:

• Cover up of the fine paid to settle USDA citations for failing to provide adequate and timely veterinary care in the deaths of Gita the elephant and a chimpanzee named Judeo.
• Violation of the California Public Records Act, withholding at least 15 pages of documents related to the USDA findings and fine, in response to an IDA request.
• Tampering with public documents by censoring Gita's medical records to remove references to possible continuation of a terminal medical condition.
• Misleading City Council and the Mayor as to the severity of Gita's zoo-induced medical problems.

"The zoo's actions are an affront to transparency in government, and violate the public trust," Doyle concluded. "We have faith that the Grand Jury will hold the zoo accountable for its reprehensible and irresponsible actions."

For more information and to take action, please visit http://www.helpelephants.com/la_zoo.html.

1) If you live in the City of Los Angeles, please contact Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and your city council member and express your outrage at yet another L.A. Zoo cover-up and the fact that critical information was withheld from the council during hearings on the future of the elephant exhibit. Urge your council member to take action to revisit whether construction on the $42 million dollar display should continue. For full contact information on the mayor and city council, click here.

2) Write to your Congressperson and urge her or him to hold the USDA accountable for its utter failure to protect elephants in circuses and zoos and uphold federal law.

3) Educate yourself about the many other elephants who the USDA is failing to protect, including Tina, Queenie and Jewel, three elephants who are suffering and in danger, held by an abusive circus trainer. Help IDA put pressure on the USDA to confiscate these elephants who have endured a lifetime of misery in circuses.

In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi, Mumbai, India, and Cameroon, Africa.

In Defense of Animals is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We welcome your feedback and appreciate your donations. Please join today! All donations to IDA are tax-deductible.

In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901
Tel. (415) 448-0048 Fax (415) 454-1031
idainfo@idausa.org

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