Results tagged “lazoo”

                     

The LA Zoo's annual Beastly Ball is known to be one of the hottest tickets in town. The benefit held this year on Saturday, June 20th raised $1,226,000 for the zoo. This year, the 39th Beastly Ball, honored philanthropist and GLAZA Trustee Laura Z. Wasserman.

When former Mayor James Hahn visited China in 2002, hoping to get panda exhibit for the LA Zoo, he came back with the promise of three golden monkeys for 10 years. Now that is not even happening, according to the Daily News. "We did pursue it with the Chinese government, but our understanding is they were no longer responding to our inquiries," Zoo Commission President Shelby Kaplan Sloan said. "We are working to bring in other simians and think we can come up with something the public will respond to and be just as attractive." More than $7.4 million was spent on the exhibit, which will now be used for other Asian primates, birds and miniature deer.

       

It was in 1915 when fourteen sculptures of lions and elephants graced the now-gone Selig Zoo in Lincoln Park. Movie producer William Selig had commissioned Carlo Romanelli, a sixth-generation sculptor from Florence, Italy, to create the life-sized concrete statutes that adorned the Mission Revival style entrance gates at the zoo.

One of the six endangered California Condors released at Pinnacles National Monument in 2003 has died at the Los Angeles Zoo. After the bird was found shot, it was brought to Los Angeles to be treated, but died Monday due to complications from lead poisoning after the bird ingested lead ammunition from hunters (oddly enough, the gunshots and ingestion were not related). On the brighter side of things. Two condors (313 and 303 if you really want to be specific) have mated and are watching over their egg right now just outside the National Monument on a privately owned ranch. This is the first condor nest near the monument in 70s years, according to the National Park Service.

Who knew distant relatives to the boar could be so cute? Last week Friday, three Chacoan peccaries were born at the zoo and are currently on exhibit.

On April 5th, this little guy was born at the LA Zoo. So congrats to his parents, Neema and Artimus. "Able to stand shortly after birth, calves can grow four feet during their first year. When full grown, giraffes can reach a height of 18 feet, making them tallest land mammal," says the Zoo. "Native to Kenya and Tanzania, giraffes can reach a speed of 35 miles per hour. Their kicks are so powerful that they’re capable of decapitating a lion (ouch!). Giraffes communicate with one another through posturing, movement, the way they carry their tails, retreat and sometimes vocalization, which can include moos, bellows and whistles."

Spend you Sunday celebrating Earth Day and our oceans at Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, where today from 11-6 they will have displays, presentations and activities focusing on environmental issues for which Heal the Bay is advocating will give visitors a range of areas for involvement. If you want to help pitch in, you can sign up for a beach cleanup between noon-3:30 and gain free admission to the museum for your participation. Special exhibits inside the Aquarium will highlight the environmental problems of marine debris. Artist “Deb Ris,” will display samples of her work, composed of trash found in the marine environment, along with many more special presentations and opportunities to interact with marine life. Lots of other kid-friendly activities, too.

              

By 9:30 a.m., one half hour before opening time Saturday morning, a few rows of the LA Zoo's parking lot were already filled with cars. As families filled the ticket lines, snow donated by Union Ice began to fall onto four exhibits in the back of the park where the bears, tigers, leopards and takins live.

The LA Zoo is now home to two groups, or mobs, of Meerkats, who are native to southern Africa. Two reside in the cute-as-ever Winnick Family Children’s Zoo and four just arrived from the North Carolina Zoo making their home at the meerkat habitat.

     

Last week, we introduced you to a group new baby animals at the LA Zoo. There actually was one more, but no photo was available... until now. In the zoo's own words, meet the newborn black duiker (along with photos shown last week):

In an 11 to 4 vote, the LA City Council voted to continue construction on the the six-acre, $42-million Pachyderm Forest that has been a hot button issue between animal activists and well, other animal activists, since late October. The elephant issue dominated the meeting for more than two hours as both sides explained with extreme passion and reason why the council should vote their way. EARLIER: What celebrities including, Cher and Robert Culp, said at the meeting.

      

The battle over Billy's future home at the LA Zoo is contentious today at city council. A group of celebrities were the first to speak today and they were all against the continuation of the zoo's Pachyderm Forest. They rather "free billy" and see him go to a more open space, which they believe is better to Billy's livelihood. Here are excerpts from what each celebrity said:

The LA City Council is fielding general public comment right now, but behind them in a packed council chambers is are animal lovers, activists and experts waiting to speak on whether the six acre pachyderm forest exhibit for LA Zoo's lone elephant, Billy, should stay continue construction or continue to be on hold.

   

The LA Zoo has added some new animals this month. Let's take a look with explanations provided by the zoo...

Animation historian Jerry Beck presents “Juvenile Mindrot: Inappropriate and Disturbing Kids' Cartoons” at the Silent Movie Theatre tonight. These cartoons have been deemed too violent, too scary, too depressing and no longer for kids. Beck will bring in cartoons that aren’t shown on TV or on DVD right now. “Originally made for children, these roasters are no longer appropriate for small fry, whether it's because of the violence, cross dressing, smoking, sexism, or just straight-up bizarre ingredients contained within. If your childhood wasn't already perverted by hours upon hours of unhinged animation, this show will make it up to you.” Tickets are $13.

It's all on now! The zoo and others, who want to keep Billy from being ousted to some elephant sanctuary or elsewhere, just enlisted Slash from Guns n Roses for this video (and most recently got Jack Hanna on their side, too). And to make it a Happy Gilmore moment, the "Free Billy" folks have Bob Barker. Now, tap gloves.. go!

          

On Saturday morning, a group of animal activists took to the LA Zoo to let patrons know what the city is planning to do with their upcoming elephant exhibit and what the past has held for the elephants. The controversy over Billy, the sole elephant in the zoo, recently came back when City Councilmember Tony Cardenas--at the urging of activists--changed his position on an already under construction $42 million 6-acre pachyderm exhibit.

  

A lesson on why you shouldn't jump the fence into the Gorilla's home... they might think there are veggies inside you. More of LAist's ape coverage here.

It all started with the ostriches. Well, not really, but don't you think it should have? In fact, Griffith Park started with a curse. When the original owner of Griffith Park, Don Antonio Feliz died of small pox in 1863, he left his extensive land holdings to Don Antonio Coronel. Subsequently, his blind, destitute 17 year old niece, Dona Petronilla, cursed the land -- great misfortune would come to whoever owned it.

How's this for timely? GLAZA, the friends-of group to the LA Zoo, announced late last night that they'll pay the $1.2 million annual debt service for the exhibit. Basically, that relieves the city's general fund of this debt and will allow construction to continue, they say. This comes right before the City Council will sit down today and possibly vote on the fate of the controversial elephant exhibit.

Yesterday, the LA City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee voted 3 to 2, recommending construction to halt on the LA Zoo's $42-million elephant exhibit. Originally given the go-ahead in 2006, Councilmember Tony Cardenas recently brought the issue back up saying that Billy, the lone zoo elephant, has pathological problems and that a city-owned elephant sanctuary would better suit him and any future elephants. The issue became heated with some of the largest crowds showing up to City Council meetings in recent memory. Yesterday's vote does not mean construction will stop, but is a heavy recommendation for when the full council votes on it. Those who support the exhibit going forward say USDA guidelines for sanctuaries are much less strict than those for zoos. The City's financial wing says stopping the exhibit after spending nearly $10 million also isn't such a good idea.

Brenda Scott Royce, director of publications for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, sounded off this weekend at Huffington Post about all the elephant talk going on these days. Animal activists and Councilman Tony Cardenas want the exhibit currently under construction to halt work and have a search a large expansive elephant sanctuary. Royce, along with others, believe the exhibit is just fine. Their point of view has not gotten as much press, so here's some of it.

In what could be one of the largest public turnouts for a city council meeting in years, former Price is Right host Bob Barker was the first to comment on the Los Angeles Zoo elephant controversy a minute before 11 a.m. this morning.

Already under construction is a 6-acre elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo. But tomorrow, the city council will take up a motion to stop the project. Animal friendly Councilman Tony Cardenas wants the city to develop a 60-acre elephant preserve instead. Joyce Poole, a pachyderm expert, said the zoo's elephant--Billy--is bobbing and swaying his head. "I know that some people believe that elephants do that in the wild, but having observed elephants for many, many years, seeing perhaps 10,000 different individuals ... I have never seen head-bobbing and I have never seen swaying," Poole said. "This type of behavior is pathological. It is a result of being in a confined space."

          

On November 9, the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens will host the fourth annual Ape Awareness Day. Learn more about our primate friends with docents talks and stations throughout the zoo with crafts, an orangutan photo spot, games, trading cards, and more.

Yesterday's 25-acre brush fire in Griffith Park forced the evacuation of nearby zoo patrons as well as animals from a breeding facility, like the endangered Condors.

A five acre brush fire broke out near Travel Town and the LA Zoo this afternoon around 12:45 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. 32 LAFD fire companies reported to the scene with help from LA County, Burbank and Glendale fire departments totaling approximately 200 firefighters on the ground. As of 2:00 p.m. no injuries, evacuations or damaged structures were reported and a knockdown had not been declared yet. "It's not progressing in a way that's it's blowing through the brush," LAFD Spokesperson Ron Myers told LAist on the phone. He said they are making progress on perimeter control.

You know its officially summer when the Hollywood Bowl schedule is in full swing and your local Whole Foods boast empty shelves of wine and cheese. Yes, the sun is out later and perfect temperatures always serve as a pleasant compliment to any night of music, but that isn’t to say that there’s nothing going on in your favorite sweaty rock venue. July happens to be a jam-packed month, and we’d like to give you a little breakdown.

             

It was a beautiful night at the Los Angeles Zoo; perfect weather and a perfect setting made the LA Zoo's annual "Beastly Ball" an event to remember. Celebrities and guests wandered the grounds of the zoo, feasting on gorgeous dishes prepared by the city's best restaurateurs and interacting with friendly animals like a boa constrictor, an armadillo, and a gray horned owl. Participating restaurants included Yamashiro, Typhoon, Pink's, Malo, El Cholo, Fabiolus Café and many, many others.