Both sides can claim victories in a lawsuit against the LA Zoo over the treatment of Billy the elephant -- a beast the suit described as overweight, depressed and sexually frustrated.
Judge John L. Segal ruled Tuesday that Billy could remain at the LA Zoo elephant habitat, but only as long as zookeepers make changes that include instituting daily two-hour exercise periods, forbidding the use of electric shocks and tilling the habitat's soil so the ground is softer, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Aaron Leider, a real estate agent who filed the lawsuit, called the decision a win despite the fact that his suit called for Billy and the other elephants to be removed from the zoo and sent to an animal sanctuary. On his Facebook page, he wrote, "WE WON OUR LAWSUIT AGAINST THE LA ZOO!" Leider also pointed out that for the first time in history, a zoo has been ordered by a judge to improve the way it cares for its animals.
Despite ruling that Billy should stay at the zoo, Judge Segal unleashed 56 pages of scathing criticism about the ignorance of the zoo's staff. He also wrote that the trial proved life for the zoo's three elephants is "empty, purposeless, boring, and occasionally painful." |
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