ACTIVISTS SAY RUBY CAGED, FED DOUGHNUTS.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer It's bad enough that Ruby the elephant was whisked away from her longtime companion at the Los Angeles Zoo The Los Angeles Zoo founded in 1966, is a large zoo located in Los Angeles, California, USA. The Zoo, located in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, is home to 1,200 animals from around the world. for solitary confinement solitary confinement n. the placement of a prisoner in a Federal or state prison in a cell away from other prisoners, usually as a form of internal penal discipline, but occasionally to protect the convict from other prisoners or to prevent the prisoner from causing in Knoxville, Tenn., animal rights activists said Wednesday. The 9,000-pound pachyderm is now being tossed glazed Krispy Kreme Krispy Kreme is a chain of doughnut stores. Its parent company is Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD), based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. doughnuts. ``I am very horrified hor·ri·fy tr.v. hor·ri·fied, hor·ri·fy·ing, hor·ri·fies 1. To cause to feel horror. See Synonyms at dismay. 2. To cause unpleasant surprise to; shock. that my worst fears have come true,'' said Gretchen Wyler Gretchen Wyler (February 16, 1932 - May 27, 2007), was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma as Gretchen Patricia Wienecke. She was raised in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where her father was an engineer. , vice president of the Humane Society's Hollywood office and a member of the Los Angeles Zoo Animal Welfare Committee. On Wednesday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied a motion to sanction the Los Angeles Zoo for legal maneuverings that allowed Ruby to be transferred. A taxpayer lawsuit for an injunction against the move is pending. Wyler, Venice Animal Allies and other activists are incensed over allegations this week by a Tennessee animal welfare group that the 41- year-old African elephant is being mistreated by the Knoxville Zoo. The Tennessee Network for Animals claims Ruby has been confined for nine weeks to a small cage atop a shadeless concrete pad - with neither exercise nor companionship. An observer said she saw zoo keepers feed Ruby doughnuts. Carol Buckler, founder of The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, filed a complaint Monday with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, claiming Ruby wasn't given proper shade from the sun as required by law. Knoxville Zoo officials say the elephant is living in a temporary enclosure until it can bond with a bull elephant and three cows through a steel fence. ``She's doing well,'' zoo spokesman William Becker said. ``We care about her, she had been a very welcome addition to our elephant herd. We feel we are doing what's best for her in the long term.'' Los Angeles animal rights activists had backed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to bar Los Angeles zoo-keepers from breaking up a friendship between Ruby and her close companion Gita, a 45-year-old Asian elephant Asian elephant Elaphus maximus. . Before they could secure a temporary restraining order temporary restraining order: see injunction. , Ruby was shipped to Knoxville on the eve On the Eve (Накануне in Russian) is the third novel by famous Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, best known for his short stories and the novel Fathers and Sons. of Memorial Day to serve as ``auntie'' for the breeding program there. ``They promised us if she was unhappy, that they would bring her back,'' said Melya Kaplan, executive director for Venice Animal Allies. ``Now it's up to the L.A. Zoo to live up to its word.'' Lora LaMarca, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Zoo, said zoo-keepers have visited Knoxville twice to monitor Ruby's health and safety. ``Our keepers are in close contact with Knoxville, and Ruby's being treated well.'' Dana Bartholomew, (818) 713-3730 dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Animal activists say that Ruby the elephant, shown in this earlier photo, has been kept in cramped quarters and fed doughnuts since arriving at the Knoxville Zoo. Amy Smotherman/Knoxville News Sentinel |
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