Well, folk, it looks like January is the month for elephant politics. A couple of weeks ago, someone wrote in with a question about if anything had happened in regards to Billy, the male elephant at the LA Zoo, whom activists are trying to convince the city government to seize from the zoo and transfer to a sanctuary. For a long time, there hasn’t been any movement on the topic – aside from frequent protests at the entrance of the LA Zoo – but now things are ramping up again.
On January 24th – Wednesday of this week – the The Arts, Entertainment, Parks & River Committee of the City Council will be hearing Council Member Koretz’ motion. While it’s mostly been presented to the public as a motion to move Billy to an “accredited sanctuary”, there’s actually other aspects to the motion that are equally if not more alarming. In addition to forcing the zoo to transfer Billy to PAWS (the only elephant sanctuary in the country that accepts bulls), it also asks the city to force the LA Zoo to cancel all current or future breeding plans for their elephants and to turn the exhibit into a sanctuary for abused female elephants. This whole situation is far more than concerned citizens advocating for the welfare of a single bull. This is about zoos and sanctuaries and animal rights and industry politics, for all that it focuses on a single animal as a figurehead.
What’s really distressing is that while the LA Zoo has been running a letter writing campaign to encourage constituents to rally against this motion, only a single person from the zoo’s animal care staff has made public comment to the city council about the proposal. Neither the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, nor the California Association of Zoos or Aquariums – both associations of which the LA Zoo is a member – has made any public comment on the motion. As of the time of writing this, there was also no posted public comment by the Elephant Manager’s Association. In short: almost nobody with zoo animal management experience, much less elephant management experience, nor even the “gold standard” accrediting body has contributed anything to the committee’s understanding of Billy’s current welfare at the LA Zoo. It’s not even clear if any of the committee members have visited the zoo and seen Billy and his living conditions, despite the urging of Council Member David Ryu. The committee will be hearing the motion and interpreting it based on hundreds of comments from the well-meaning public, most of which are form letters written by anti-zoo associations. That’s really not how government officials responsible for ordinances that effect animal welfare should be educated on the topic.
WADTT has covered why this whole motion is a whole barrel of politics in detail previously, but here’s a recap:
It would massively damage the LA Zoo:
If the city of LA decides to seize Billy from the zoo (which they can legally do, as it is a municipally funded facility) the LA Zoo will lose their AZA accreditation. AZA facilities are not allowed to have their management choices for their animals overruled by governmental authorities, because a requirement for AZA accreditation is that the facility and it’s staff are seen as the experts by in determining appropriate care for all of the zoo residents.
If the zoo loses AZA accreditation, it will be forced to pull out of multiple major Species Survival Programs (SSP) (because only AZA institutions are allowed to participate in the Green level programs) and will no longer be able to exhibit or breed Western Lowland gorillas, lions, and Andean condors to name a few; they would likely be prohibited from doing any sort of animal demos either on-site or as part of outreach programming, as LA’s new ordinance banning the use of wild animals in entertainment only exempts zoos accredited by the AZA.
There is precedent for this occurring – animal rights advocates decided they wanted the Toronto Zoo’s elephants to go to a sanctuary instead of being transferred to another zoo, and they convinced the city to overrule the zoo CEO. The Toronto Zoo elephants went to PAWS, and the zoo lost their AZA accreditation.
They’re only advocating for one of the four elephants:
Animal rights groups and Council Member Koretz are advocating for Billy to be removed from the zoo because the conditions he lives in are inhumane and inappropriate for any elephant – and yet are simultaneously ignoring the three elephant cows who also live at the LA Zoo and would be subject to the same living conditions.
Two of the three females at the LA Zoo would be far better candidates to be sent to a sanctuary if the concern was truly allowing elephants to retire to a less stressful life- they both have chronic medical conditions, and are old enough that they are no longer be participants in conservation breeding programs.
Billy is the only elephant living at the LA Zoo who is actually owned by the city of LA. The other three females are on loan from other institutions. The city of LA, therefore, can only seize Billy for a transfer – they have no authority over the movements of the other three females.
The sanctuary Billy would have to be moved to (the only other elephant sanctuary in the country does not accept males) is run by the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). The founder of PAWS openly advocated against AZA zoos, and the organization has previously unsuccessfully campaigned for the removal of Billy from the LA Zoo to their facility.
This motion is likely the start of the animal rights groups pushing for all zoos to become sanctuaries and stop breeding animals for conservation
The proposal is supported by: the Voices for the Animals Foundation, Humane Society of the United States, the Performing Animal Welfare Society, Last Chance for Animals and Elephant Guardians of L.A.
HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle has written multiple times about how he wants to see zoos cease breeding animals entirely and become sanctuaries for abused animals. He has also stated that he wants to see elephants phased out of zoos entirely, and congratulated Detroit Zoo CEO Ron Kagan on his groundbreaking decision to send his zoo’s elephants to PAWS. (Kagan was also in favor of the Toronto City Council’s choice to seize the Toronto Zoo’s elephants and send them to PAWS).
Prominent animal rights speakers such as Marc Bekoff have left zoo animal welfare seminars held at the Detroit Zoo in recent years espousing the need for zoos to turn into sanctuaries; Detroit Zoo CEO Ron Kagan wrote a chapter entitled “Sanctuaries: Zoos of the Future?” for an animal law textbook published in 2017.
It is typical of HSUS advocacy to encourage the surreptitious addition of broader language than the public is aware of into pieces of legislation – while the public is simply concerned with with the fate of one elephant, this motion goes to further much longer term goals for the animal rights movement in regards to zoos.
How you can help:
Write the committee! Send them a message – not a form letter, but even just a couple sentences – expressing your support for the LA Zoo’s animal care. You can also say that you think they should have actual experts on elephant welfare who are unaffiliated with either political faction weigh in before they decide!
You can email your comments to clerk.cps@lacity.org – make sure to reference Council File #17-0453 and what you want to see happen (the motion needs to be dismissed) either in the subject line or the first sentence! You can absolutely email them if you’re not an LA resident, but if you are local it’s important information – they’ll pay more attention to your opinion.
I know sending letters is hard, but the unfortunate truth of the matter is that zoo industry politics often keep zoo staff from being able to advocate for their own jobs – no matter how much they want to – and so it’s really up to us to help support them considering how few comments have been submitted from the animal care sector.
If you live in LA, go to the committee meeting on the 24th! You can either listen or submit a “speaker card” so you can speak publicly. The hearing will be at 2:30 PM, January 24th in the City Council chambers, room 340.
And, as always, reblog this if you think the content is important.
The world has an international
language. It’s based on a mix of English,
German, French, and Spanish, has just
16 rules, and each letter has only one
pronunciation. It was created in 1887 by
a Polish doctor, who named it Esperanto
–meaning ‘hope’– because he hoped it
could bring the world together. SourceSource 2
This is a picture from the Curiosity Rover on Mars showing Earth from the Perspective of Mars. You are literally looking at your home from the Perspective of another planet. Epic times indeed
I understand the entire “Positive” Mark thing. I participated for a little bit, and it was fun. But guys… even as a person participating my anxiety went through the roof because there were anons using this “positivity breach” to actually threaten me. People on anon actually sent me asks that involved my private information, including my phone number, IP address, and even the city I live in. I understand you wanting to have fun with it, but that is too fucking far. The asks I was getting were violent and scary, considering they listed my private info. So if the person/people who sent me those sees this, you need to calm down and take a break from tumblr.
@markiplier I know this was all meant to be fun and games, but this has gone a little too far.
ANYBODY WHO KNOWS GAGE PLEASE MESSAGE HIM HOWEVER YOU CAN I CALLED HIS CELL AND HE ANSWERED FOR LESS THAN A MINUTE. HE WAS CRYING AND SAYING “IM SORRY” AND HUNG UP. I AM VERY WORRIED AND I CANT GO TO HIS HOUSE BECAUSE IM TWO STATES AWAY. PLEASE MESSAGE GAGE ANYWAY YOU CAN -ERIK
I called his local police, and they are en route. One of the police officers, daniel, will be calling me with an update when he is authorized to.
Daniel called me at roughly 8:30 eastern time. he has informed me that gage is alive. he attempted suicide roughly an hour ago. he has been unresponsive for the last 45 minutes, but has a pulse and is breathing. he is in the hospital now.
Oh shit. Okay, people need to start spamming Mark telling him to call this off. I know it’s not Mark’s fault, but this? This kind of shit needs to stop. Maybe if Mark says something, people will get the hint and stop or at least not do things like this. I really hope he is okay; I don’t know him but I really really hope he’s okay man.
Will you keep us updated if you can?
I will be posting updates on this account when I get them, if I feel they are appropriate to share. @markiplier I will be tagging him every time… he needs to see this.
No ones laughing anymore @markiplier this has to be addressed
If this has truly happened, then I am so, so sorry. But I have to express my doubts. The way this is done is weird. Why include the name Daniel? And why would someone fearing for their life and safety try to take their own life? And why would his liver already be failing? Even if he took pills and booze, it would seem that they wouldn’t have that much of a reaction so soon (unless of course it had been quite an amount of time that had passed, which would definitely explain it). Just the feeling that I have is that this is fake. If it isn’t, I truly apologize. Not trying to start anything or throw anyone through the mud. I seriously just don’t understand how this could have escalated this quickly.
I hate to say it. But I agree with you. I ha e been discussing it with a few other people and somethings are just too “convenient” in the story and updates.
I don’t want to start anything either. I certainly feel like an asshole if I’m completely wrong.
But I doubt the story a bit
It’s natural to have doubts though. I know a few people who have doubts. It’s hard not to these days with how many “fake” stories there are out there.
If this genuinely happened its devastating and terrible and I’ll feel like an asshole too but if it’s fake… then thats disgusting.
Just some stuff sound off.
^^
don’t ever fake shit like this, mark has already gone through enough bullshit bc of y’all being idiots just stop and think about it. y’all are freakin out over a goddamn picture. damn.
Again gonna lose followers but TBH I think it is fake. The person who “attempted” and the friend who’s updating tumblr on the person’s condition always show their message box as online at the same time. Soooo.. seems like that “friend” is a fake side blog ran buy the person who say they attempted.
Also same person was participating in the markiplier cult thing as well moments before posting the “I’m being doxed” thing
And if it is real tbh it’s less likely someone random doxing them and more likely someone they KNOW who used that opportunity to hurt the person under the scapegoat of marks game
If it is real then I’m sorry but I’m just typing what I see
I mean… This is at least the 8th time I’ve checked… Both blogs are always online and offline at the same times sooooo
glitchbitchtm is a side blog gage created from his personal account, that im an admin of. i have the passwords and usernames to both accounts because im his sig. other. i dont ever get on his personal because i respect his privacy. so yes, the accounts will be on at the same time because theyre connected. gage runs his personal, and i mainly run the other, but he does as well if he chooses to. the sideblog was my idea.
Also going to add that Gage has done this shit before by pretending he was his own bully by making several fake accounts to threaten himself and then proceeded to ‘attempt suicide’. Let’s also not forget this is the same 15 year old who tricked two 20 year olds to date him, was dating another girl in real life, and had a crush on another person I know. So until I see actual evidence that any of this happen, I’m not going to believe a single thing. Sorry mate.
If this whole thing was faked I’m going to be sick. How fucking dare someone do something like this. That’s not okay.
I’ve seen too much shit to honestly believe this. Yes, it’s scary and if he did attempt, that’s horrible and I’m sorry. But I have actually lost friends while I was messaging them. This… feels staged. If my fiance had attempted suicide, I would not sound as calm as she. I wouldn’t even be able to pull myself together enough to respond past he’s ok. For the record. He’s in England I’m in America. And maybe it’s just my experiences, but officers usually say, Officer (last name) and maybe I’m just more respectful to authority, but I would say Officer. Just Daniel is too informal.
Now about the liver. I’ve read about this in my research to figure out the most painless way to kill myself. A whole bottle, will start to make your liver fail in 2 hours tops. The acetaminophen has to work its way through your system. So unless he lives 45 minutes from the hospital in a speeding ambulance, I call b.s. on that part.
Furthermore, acetominaphine is the only over the counter that will make your liver fail so quick. Even a whole bottle of Nyquil won’t kill you. My friend tried.
This boy would’ve had to have done loads of research and been prepared for this.
PLUS, no goodbye note go the sign. Other? I know I’m not the only suicidal person who would say goodbye. She found out by sending the police over there.
You can hate me all you want but nothing adds up.
The profile deactivated. And other people started pulling up receipts that gage is fake and manipulative.
I can’t believe I debunked this I should of spoke up about the messenger thing sooner jfc
DON’T EVER LIE ABOUT SUICIDE EVER why does that even need to be said.
this is really disturbing, both if it is real (which i highly doubt, what with all this evidence to prove otherwise) and if it’s fake. hell, especially if it’s fake. don’t you dare joke and/or fake suicide. it’s disgusting and makes the whole this look like some joke people do for attention. i repeat – DONT. JOKE.ABOUT. AND/OR FAKE. SUICIDE.
i see this happen in the fandom a lot: someone sends someone a message saying “You’re amazing!” and the person says “your’e wrong!” and it goes back and forth and I get it, we’re being cute, but I want to put this idea out there:
When someone says “you’re amazing!” what they mean is “I think you’re amazing!” and if you argue, you’re not saying, “I do not perceive myself as amazing,” you’re saying, “Your perception of me is incorrect.”
You don’t have to love yourself. I get it. It’s hard sometimes. I have bad days too. I can’t tell you how to feel about yourself.
But if someone tells you you’re incredible, what they’re saying is they perceive you that way. And the best thing to do, honestly? Say thank you, and return the compliment if you want to.
Not only is it really nice to have your compliment validated, but if enough people tell you you’re amazing without you automatically arguing with them, you might start believing it yourself.
And if you absolutely can’t accept it, you can say, “I may not be able to see that in myself right now, but I am so glad and grateful that you do, so thank you.”
Let’s make ‘gracefully accepting compliments’ the standard of 2018. No more modesty in the form of constant self-deprecation. You might think you’re joking, or using it to cope. But as someone who did that for far too long, I can tell you: every mean thing you say about yourself only makes you hate yourself more. It is literally a form of psychological and emotional self-harm, and you don’t deserve that.
Because you–yes, YOU, the one reading this? You. Are. Amazing.
I love you guys.
I…. actually needed this today. Thank you. 💙
Thank you for putting it into words, LJ! I always feel a little off when someone disregards my praise with self-deprication. I’m not offended or frustrated or anything, but it hurts a little when people who I see as kind and amazing put themselves down.
I’ve started approaching compliments in this way a few months ago and it really works! I really think my self image has improved and now I’m even confident enough to look at my body in the mirror and like what I see. There may be more reasons for that than just accepting compliments, but that definitely helped me on the way 😀
This is something I need to learn for myself. I always feel that no matter what good compliments people have for me in posts or messages I don’t deserve it.
Because so many of you deserve happiness or praise so much more than me. I feel like I’ve done nothing to earn it.
But… This is a really good mentality to have, thank you.
“Because so many of you deserve happiness or praise so much more than me.”
FIN if I catch you repeating that self-depreciating bullshit again, I swear to ANTI that I will become a fucking Holy Terror™. Do not test me. If someone compliments, praises or thanks you, they definitely think you deserve it. You did something right for them, whether you know it or not, so you earned it. Please be as kind to yourself as you are to others.
And going off the original OP’s point of convincing yourself you don’t deserve happiness or compliments, it breaks my heart when I see tags on text posts like ‘personal’ ‘amy speaks’ ‘shut up amy no one cares’ Please don’t do that to yourself.
O.o Got it! Not saying it again. Nope. (pls no holy terror™) Also “please be as kind to yourself as you are to others”… Damn. That hit harder than I expected.
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Be kind to yourselves and look at the good. Seeing flaws are so much easier to examine, but we are our own worst critics. If we can’t find the positives in ourselves, then accept those from others who can see it on the outside.
