Dear John xxxxxx,
Billy was just a baby when his life was stolen.
Born in the wilds of Malaysia in 1985, he should have grown up in a close-knit elephant family—learning, exploring, and roaming freely. Instead, he was torn from his herd before he turned one and sold to the Los Angeles Zoo. For $7,000, Billy’s freedom was replaced with concrete walls and a life of captivity.
Today is the final day to give to our Spring Fundraiser: Sowing the seeds of justice. Before you continue, would you consider making a donation to support our fight for Billy and Tina?
Video from the zoo’s archives shows Billy being “trained” with a bullhook—a sharp metal tool used to subdue and control elephants and now widely condemned for the pain and fear it causes. That was just the beginning.
By the early 90s, Billy was forced into a traveling entertainment act with a company known for its cruel treatment of elephants. Reports described bullhook beatings, electric shocks, and 12-hour leg chaining. Even after returning to the zoo, Billy was kept isolated for much of his life and subjected to an invasive captive breeding program. Over a three-year period, the zoo attempted to collect his semen over 50 times. This process often involved holding him in place using an elephant restraint device while a zoo employee inserted their arm into his anus to manually stimulate his prostate in an attempt to collect semen.
Tina’s life has been no less tragic and unjust.
She, too, was born in the wild—captured as an infant in 1967. In the 40 years following her capture, she was exploited in circuses and casinos, dressed in costumes and paraded before tourists. Like Billy, she endured bullhooks and isolation. She was rescued from that life in 2009 when the USDA confiscated her because of neglect—she was dangerously underweight—only to wind up at the L.A. Zoo, where she and Billy have both been observed engaging in behavior indicative of chronic stress and trauma in elephants.
On May 21, the L.A. Zoo announced it had transferred both Billy and Tina—not to a sanctuary where they could finally live freely, as elephants should, but to another zoo. Another enclosure. Another sentence of captivity.
But their story doesn’t end here. Yesterday we filed a motion to submit a supplemental petition in the elephants' case, arguing that even though they're no longer in California, the L.A. Superior Court retains jurisdiction over the case because Billy and Tina remain in the "constructive custody" of L.A. Zoo Director Denise Verret and the City of L.A.
We are continuing the legal fight for Billy and Tina—because justice demands it.
Like all of our cases, this fight for Billy and Tina is not just about two elephants. It’s about creating a more ethical future—a future where our legal system upholds its core principles of liberty and fairness, not just for human beings but for all autonomous beings who are born on this planet with an inherent right to live freely.
There is just one day left to give to our Spring Fundraiser. Your support today helps us continue our legal battle for Billy and Tina and helps support future cases for nonhuman animals who are suffering in unjust confinement.
