Animal Advocates Watchdog

Bob Barker begs Toronto Zoo to retire its elephants *PIC*

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/971174--bob-barker-begs-toronto-zoo-to-retire-its-elephants

Bob Barker begs Toronto Zoo to retire its elephants


April 07, 2011

Nicole Baute

The one and only Bob Barker will visit Toronto on April 15 in an attempt to convince the Toronto Zoo to send its elephants south.

Barker, animal activist and former host of The Price is Right, will meet with some city councillors and members of the Toronto Zoo board of management. They are “genuinely looking at the possibility of moving the three elephants in Toronto to a more agreeable climate,” he says. Mayor Rob Ford has also been invited.

The zoo is trying to decide whether to renovate its elephant exhibit or retire elephants Toka, Thika and Iringa to a wildlife sanctuary. Zoo chief executive officer John Tracogna says a report on the issue should be ready to go to the board in two or three months, perhaps sooner.

In the meantime, Barker, longtime friend of animals in general and elephants in particular, is not afraid to beg.

“I’m gonna come back there and get down on my knees and plead and beg and cry . . . and tell them that they just can’t make an old man in Hollywood suffer this way, they’ve got to get those elephants into a better situation,” he told the Toronto Star Thursday.

This is not the first time Barker has taken up the plight of elephants in Canada. He and other animal activists have been trying to convince the Edmonton Valley Zoo to send its lone elephant, Lucy, to a southern sanctuary — with no success.

“People in the city government there in Toronto seem to really have the best interests of those three elephants at heart, unlike that zoo in Edmonton, where I get the impression that beginning with the mayor and working all the way down they are childishly determined to have their own way at the expense of Lucy the elephant,” he says.

with files from Paul Moloney

Barker’s elephant escapades

Lucy: Barker has offered Edmonton $100,000 to use on “anything they wish” to let outside experts perform a checkup on Lucy at the Edmonton Valley Zoo to determine whether she is well enough to move. Barker says Lucy has arthritis, emphysema and foot infections and “is slowly dying and suffering while she’s doing it.”

Ruby: Barker donated $300,000 to help pay for Ruby the elephant’s expenses at the 2,300-acre Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) elephant sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif., after she left the Los Angeles Zoo. Ruby moved to the sanctuary in 2007 after 20 years at the zoo; she died last March.

Billy: Billy, a 21-year-old Asian bull, remains at the Los Angeles Zoo despite protests. In 2009, Barker, Cher and Lily Tomlin failed to convince city council to move Billy to a sanctuary, even though Barker pledged $1.5 million for the trip. Instead, the zoo built a new elephant habitat, which opened last year.

Nicholas and Gypsy: A 9,500-pound bull named Nicholas and his companion Gypsy moved to the PAWS sanctuary in 2007 after escaping abusive conditions in Illinois. Barker pledged $500,000 to the cause.

Maggie: In 2007, Maggie, the main attraction at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, moved to the California sanctuary after Barker promised $750,000 for her care. “She is thriving now,” Barker says. “The herd just adopted her.”

Retired American game show host Bob Barker (left) waves to onlookers as he meets Lucy the elephant at the Valley Zoo in Edmonton on Sept. 17, 2009. Barker is lobbying to have Lucy moved to a U.S. elephant sanctuary.

DAN RIEDLHUBER/REUTERS

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Bob Barker will contribute his own money to move Toronto Zoo elephants to Tennessee Sanctuary *PIC*
Bob Barker begs Toronto Zoo to retire its elephants *PIC*

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