The movement to save Billy the elephant at the L.A. zoo is looking for a volunteer PR person. Here’s the message I received:
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I am writing to you on behalf of Billy the elephant that suffers in confinement at the L.A. Zoo. I have no doubt that you have heard of his plight. We need a professional Public Relations campaign in order to get him out of L.A. Zoo and up to PAWS Sanctuary in Northern California. I am a member and volunteer for In Defense of Animals here in Los Angeles, so IDA would be the group requesting PRO-BONO PR.
After City Council voted on Jan. 28 to keep Billy in his small “prison” and to spend 42 million dollars of wasteful taxpayer money on renovating his enclosure and bringing in more elephants, we cannot and will not give up on getting him out and up to PAWS Sanctuary.
Please go to: www.freebilly.net for a 5 minute video, plus a new You Tube video “Sad story of Billy the elephant.”
Thirteen elephants have died at L.A. Zoo, half not reaching the age of 20. Billy has a health concern now in one of his toenails (a crack) and since the No.1 killer of elephants in captivity in zoos is foot disease, we are worried.
We later found out we had been up against a well-oiled political machine here in Los Angeles, what with labor unions, lobbyists, and wealthy zoo donors working behind the scenes to thwart our goal of getting Billy out. In fact, we were doing pretty well in public opinion about Billy.
While the Mayor of Los Angeles can simply pick up the phone and order Billy’s release, he simply does nothing. He has said in the past, during his first run as mayor, that “he didn’t think animals as large as elephants should be in the zoo” plus other quotes that we want to use in our campaign to get him to be a MAN OF HIS WORD! His political agenda (most likely running for Gov. of California in 2 years) has won over animal welfare and science, with leading elephant experts such as Dr. Joyce Poole, PHD (and No.1 elephant expert in the world) saying “elephants need space for both mind and body.”
Billy currently lives on a postage-stamp size enclosure with no companionship of another elephant. He is displaying abnormal psychological behavior of swaying from side to side and bobbing his head continuously.
Can you help our cause to get a PR person/company for our campaign for Billy?
Thank you for your time…
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If you’re interested in offering your PR services pro bono to Billy the elephant’s cause, please contact:
Karen Bonadio
310-383-4270
karen@wallpaperguru.com