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BILLY & TINA'S ZOO PROTEST
September 20, 2026
Next demo SUNDAY, Sept. 20 / 10 to 12 noon The Los Angeles Zoo looks like a prison. It's easy to imagine the letters over the iron gates reading LOS ANGELES ANIMAL PRISON. Walk inside and you can see that it really is a big jail where all the inmates languish behind bars and unbreachable fences. Some of the prisoners, like the chimps, are held in group enclosures; some, like Billy the elephant was, are in solitary confinement. There are differences besides the species of those confined of course. Human prisoners are locked up because they presumably committed a crime. The animals never did anything wrong. Most human prisoners do not have life time sentences, all the animals are lifers. We tried to break that paradigm for the elephants, we tried to get Billy and Tina who were being held separately, released to a sanctuary where they would finally taste something approaching freedom. But the zoo warden instead transfered them to another penitentiary, the Tulsa Zoo. Incarceration is morally wrong. Depriving anyone of their liberty is injustice. Human prisons exist because of deep systemic failures of society. And, increasingly, for profit. Animal prisons exist purely for human desire for money and entertainment, cloaked, to assuage the public's queasiness over animal abuse, in easily debunked claims of conservation and education. Carceral facilities everywhere should be protested. We protest every week at the one called the Los Angeles Zoo. We are asking for a change in the captive model to one of rescue and rehabilitation where animals have hope of seeing the light of liberty. And in the near term, we demand a firm commitment to never allow the imprisonment of elephants at the LA Zoo again. Join us! SUNDAY, Sept 20 from 10 to 12 / LA Zoo / 5333 Zoo Drive / Free parking. Whether you want to hold a sign, chant, do speakouts, take photos and videos, bang a drum, chalk, hand out flyers or talk to zoo goers, we have a place for you with our team! Flyers and posters are provided but we welcome your own handmade signs as well. YES megaphones, NO talking to cops. #zoosarejails #losangeleszoo #elephantsdontbelonginzoos... linktr.ee/lafagroup
