Where are Billy and Tina? L.A. Zoo's elephant enclosure appears empty amid relocation saga
The L.A. Zoo announced its decision to move elephants Billy, 40, and Tina, 59, to the Tulsa Zoo last month, frustrating animal rights advocates who have argued they should be retired in a sanctuary.
The possible relocation of the animals is the latest in decades of controversy surrounding the L.A. Zoo's elephant program, which experts and activists have long criticized because of its small enclosure size and history of deaths and health challenges among its inhabitants.
The political advocacy group Social Compassion in Legislation shared photos of the empty enclosure on Instagram on Tuesday, writing in the caption that they "don't know where the elephants are."
Representatives from the L.A. Zoo, the Tulsa Zoo and Mayor Karen Bass' office did not respond to The Times' requests for comment Tuesday. It is not clear whether Billy and Tina are in the process of being transferred.
L.A. City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, a longtime advocate for the elephants, said in a phone interview with The Times on Tuesday that he does not know the status of the relocation, but that the situation was "disappointing and frustrating."
Blumenfield filed a City Council motion last month seeking to pause the animals' relocation until council members could review the possibility of sending them to a sanctuary.
Blumenfield said if the elephants were being transferred despite his motion and a pending lawsuit regarding the relocation, "that speaks volumes that it's obviously not the right thing."
"If it's the right thing, you should be proud of it and be willing to defend it and bring it forward for public vetting and do it at a scheduled time and not be cagey about it," Blumenfield said.
L.A. Zoo Director and Chief Executive Denise Verret said during recent budget hearings that the decision to move the elephants was made in the best interest of the animals and in accordance with a recommendation from the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums, of which Verret is the chair.
During a hearing May 8, Verret told Blumenfield that the L.A. and Tulsa zoos had not yet signed a contract and no date had been set for the animals' move.
"It does seem like a very quick turnaround, if that, in fact, is what's happening," Blumenfield said. "And it does make you wonder if folks are trying to get this done quickly to avoid further scrutiny."
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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Fox News
3 minutes ago
- Fox News
Public shame is having a moment again and the Coldplay kiss cam scandal explains why
Public shame is having a moment again and the Coldplay kiss cam scandal explains why By Kaylee Holland Over the past week, the Coldplay Kiss Cam scandal has completely rocked the internet with memes, social commentary and op-eds since the show took place in mid-July. During the now-viral performance, Andy Byron — former Astronomer CEO — appeared on the Kiss Cam with his arms wrapped around a woman, who was later identified as his company's HR chief, Kristin Cabot. The pair were on the big screen during "The Jumbotron Song," where singer, Chris Martin, improvises songs about couples in the audience. Cabot immediately covered her face and turned away from the camera, while a stunned Byron ducked down and exited the frame. Martin then joked, "Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy." Since then, nearly everyone on the internet jumped in, eager to share their thoughts or jokes on the viral moment, including celebrities, media pundits, bands and politicians. COLDPLAY'S CHRIS MARTIN HAS WARNING FOR CONCERTGOERS DURING FIRST PERFORMANCE AFTER KISS CAM CONTROVERSY "Anybody in here with their side chick or whatever, I think you're safe here," musician Luke Combs can be heard saying during his show, in a video posted to Instagram, taken by a concertgoer. "I don't condone cheating, anymore." Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., used the viral moment to bash New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. "Commie Mamdani holding [Gov. Kathy Hochul] headed for re-election in 2026," Stefanik said on X. Even KFC's official X account joined in with a joke referencing HR oversight: "Just know our sides are always HR approved." The figureheads are among over 6 million others who have watched the video on TikTok alone. Art also imitated life with a "tidal wave of content," Free Press writer Kat Rosenfield said — pointing to a fake statement someone had written on behalf of the CEO, a reenactment by the Phillies mascots at a game and apparel such as T-shirts cheekily noting the moment. "...public shaming has been a staple of human society since the dawn of time, a necessary correction to the social transgressors in our midst," said Rosenfield. "If there's a truly compelling reason not to normalize shaming as a global, always-on public spectator sport, it's not that it degrades the humanity of the shamed; it's not even the trite "who among us has not canoodled at a Coldplay concert with his sidepiece" justification. It's simply this: When we take joy in the distress and ruination of other people, we make monsters of ourselves." LUKE BRYAN'S CHEEKY JOKE ABOUT VIRAL COLDPLAY KISS CAM SCANDAL HAS CONCERT CROWD ROARING WITH LAUGHTER But the fallout was not only cultural, as the company at the center also took action. Days after the incident, Astronomer released a statement reinforcing its values and announcing it had launched a "formal investigation," which was followed by the resignation of Byron as CEO. NYC/DC psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert said he believes the cultural obsession with viral sensations like the Coldplay scandal is the perfect mix of psychology and social media dynamics, and gives society a way to "channel judgment" on smaller issues — allowing for a mob-like mentality. "These scandals offer what I call 'safe outrage.' They give people a way to channel judgment and frustration without touching the bigger, more divisive issues in society. At the same time, they create a shared space for humor and group bonding. Memes and viral posts turn a private embarrassment into a public spectacle where everyone feels like part of the mob," Alpert shared with Fox News Digital. Alpert pointed to other similar patterns society has experienced before, such as mocking the fall of WeWork due to bankruptcy, Elon Musk and the royal family. "We've seen this pattern before: Adam Neumann became a meme when WeWork collapsed, not just because of bad business decisions but because people loved mocking his ego and excess. Elon Musk 's every misstep on Twitter instantly spawns jokes, with users flipping between adoration and ridicule," Alpert stated. INTERIM ASTRONOMER CEO EMBRACES COMPANY'S PUBLIC SPOTLIGHT IN WAKE OF KISS CAM CONTROVERSY "Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's public grievances sparked endless memes and hot takes, not because people care about British royalty but because the drama feels like a stand-in for their own family feuds. Even Will Smith's Oscars slap became less about the actual slap and more about collective projection," Alpert said. At the end of the day, Alpert noted that the reason people hyper-fixate on these types of scandals has less to do with the acts themselves, and more to do with one's own shortcomings. "These scandals are more about our own anxieties about success, failure and power. They are cultural junk food — irresistible, satisfying in the moment, but ultimately empty. In today's hyper-connected world, these narratives have become psychological pressure valves. They give people permission to judge, vent and bond, all while avoiding the larger and more uncomfortable divisions in society." In a New York Times op-ed, author Helen Schulman echoed a similar feeling and noted she was happy to see shame being resurrected, drawing comparisons to not only today's cultural field, but the political landscape and President Donald Trump 's administration. CLICK HERE FOR MORE MEDIA AND CULTURE "...in the age of Trump, it's a strange relief to watch as two fellow citizens come to realize they have done something reckless and inappropriate and not pretend they had nothing to hide. Instead, they did their best to disappear," Schulman said. Schulman also called out the "utter shamelessness" of the landscape she says America is living in, and pointed to the House and the Senate's vote to cut funding for things such as food assistance programs and healthcare. "This is legislation that is inherently shameful," Schulman said. While memes and social commentary continue to make the rounds online, and experts share their opinions about the effects of this cultural moment, Astronomer's new interim CEO, Pete DeJoy, has found the silver lining in it all. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies—let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world—ever encounter," DeJoy shared in a statement on LinkedIn. "The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name." URL
Los Angeles Times
7 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump says he's deporting the ‘worst of the worst.' What is really happening?
They called them the 'worst of the worst.' For more than a month and a half, the Trump administration has posted a barrage of mugshots of L.A. undocumented immigrants with long rap sheets. Officials have spotlighted Cuong Chanh Phan, a 49-year-old Vietnamese man convicted in 1997 of second-degree murder for his role in slaying two teens at a high school graduation party. They have shared blurry photos on Instagram of a slew of convicted criminals such as Rolando Veneracion-Enriquez, a 55-year-old Filipino man convicted in 1996 of sexual penetration with a foreign object with force and assault with intent to commit a felony. And Eswin Uriel Castro, a Mexican convicted in 2002 of child molestation and in 2021 of assault with a deadly weapon. But the immigrants that the Department of Homeland Security showcase in X posts and news releases do not represent the majority of immigrants swept up across Los Angeles. As the number of immigration arrests in the L.A. region quadrupled from 540 in April to 2,185 in June, seven out of 10 immigrants arrested in June had no criminal conviction — a trend that immigrant advocates say belies administration claims that they are targeting 'heinous illegal alien criminals' who represent a threat to public safety. According to a Los Angeles Times analysis of ICE data from the Deportation Data Project, the proportion of immigrants without criminal convictions arrested in seven counties in and around L.A. has skyrocketed from 35% in April, to 46% in May, and to 69% from June 1 to June 26. Austin Kocher, a geographer and research assistant professor at Syracuse University who specializes in immigration enforcement, said the Trump administration was not being entirely honest about the criminal status of those they were arresting. Officials, he said, followed a strategy of focusing on the minority of violent convicted criminals so they could justify enforcement policies that are proving to be less popular. 'I think they know that if they were honest with the American public that they're arresting people who cook our food, wash dishes in the kitchen, take care of people in nursing homes, people who are just living in part of the community … there's a large segment of the public, including a large segment of Trump's own supporters, who would be uncomfortable and might even oppose those kinds of immigration practices.' In Los Angeles, the raids swept up garment worker Jose Ortiz, who worked 18 years at the Ambiance Apparel clothing warehouse in downtown L.A., before being nabbed in a June 6 raid; car wash worker Jesus Cruz, a 52-year-old father who was snatched on June 8 — just before his daughter's graduation — from Westchester Hand Wash; and Emma De Paz, a recent widow and tamale vendor from Guatemala who was arrested June 19 outside a Hollywood Home Depot. Such arrests may be influencing the public's perception of the raids. Multiple polls show support for Trump's immigration agenda slipping as masked federal agents increasingly swoop up undocumented immigrants from workplaces and streets. ICE data shows that about 31% of the immigrants arrested across the L.A. region from June 1 to June 26 had criminal convictions, 11% had pending criminal charges and 58% were classified as 'other immigration violator,' which ICE defines as 'individuals without any known criminal convictions or pending charges in ICE's system of record at the time of the enforcement action.' The L.A. region's surge in arrests of noncriminals has been more dramatic than the U.S. as a whole: Arrests of immigrants with no criminal convictions climbed nationally from 57% in April to 69% in June. Federal raids here have also been more fiercely contested in Southern California — particularly in L.A. County, where more than 2 million residents are undocumented or living with undocumented family members. 'A core component of their messaging is that this is about public safety, that the people that they are arresting are threats to their communities,' said David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank. 'But it's hard to maintain that this is all about public safety when you're going out and arresting people who are just going about their lives and working.' Trump never said he would arrest only criminals. Almost as soon as he retook office on Jan. 20, Trump signed a stack of executive orders aimed at drastically curbing immigration. The administration then moved to expand arrests from immigrants who posed a security threat to anyone who entered the country illegally. Yet while officials kept insisting they were focused on violent criminals, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a warning: 'That doesn't mean that the other illegal criminals who entered our nation's borders are off the table.' As White House chief advisor on border policy Tom Homan put it: 'If you're in the country illegally, you got a problem.' Still, things did not really pick up until May, when White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ordered ICE's top field officials to shift to more aggressive tactics: arresting undocumented immigrants, whether or not they had a criminal record. Miller set a new goal: arresting 3,000 undocumented people a day, a quota that immigration experts say is impossible to reach by focusing only on criminals. 'There aren't enough criminal immigrants in the United States to fill their arrest quotas and to get millions and millions of deportations, which is what the president has explicitly promised,' Bier said. 'Immigration and Customs Enforcement says there's half a million removable noncitizens who have criminal convictions in the United States. Most of those are nonviolent: traffic, immigration offenses. It's not millions and millions.' By the time Trump celebrated six months in office, DHS boasted that the Trump administration had already arrested more than 300,000 undocumented immigrants. '70% of ICE arrests,' the agency said in a news release, 'are individuals with criminal convictions or charges.' But that claim no longer appeared to be true. While 78% of undocumented immigrants arrested across the U.S. in April had a criminal conviction or faced a pending charge, that number had plummeted to 57% in June. In L.A., the difference between what Trump officials said and the reality on the ground was more stark: Only 43% of those arrested across the L.A. region had criminal convictions or faced a pending charge. Still, ICE kept insisting it was 'putting the worst first.' As stories circulate across communities about the arrests of law-abiding immigrants, there are signs that support for Trump's deportation agenda is falling. A CBS/YouGov poll published July 20 shows about 56% of those surveyed approved of Trump's handling of immigration in March, but that dropped to 50% in June and 46% in July. About 52% of poll respondents said the Trump administration is trying to deport more people than expected. When asked who the Trump administration is prioritizing for deporting, only 44% said 'dangerous criminals.' California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass have repeatedly accused Trump of conducting a national experiment in Los Angeles. 'The federal government is using California as a playground to test their indiscriminate actions that fulfill unsafe arrest quotas and mass detention goals,' Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for Newsom told The Times. 'They are going after every single immigrant, regardless of whether they have a criminal background and without care that they are American citizens, legal status holders and foreign-born, and even targeting native-born U.S. citizens.' When pressed on why ICE is arresting immigrants who have not been convicted or are not facing pending criminal charges, Trump administration officials tend to argue that many of those people have violated immigration law. 'ICE agents are going to arrest people for being in the country illegally,' Homan told CBS News earlier this month. 'We still focus on public safety threats and national security threats, but if we find an illegal alien in the process of doing that, they're going to be arrested too.' Immigration experts say that undermines their message that they are ridding communities of people who threaten public safety. 'It's a big backtracking from 'These people are out killing people, raping people, harming them in demonstrable ways,' to 'This person broke immigration law in this way or that way,'' Bier said. The Trump administration is also trying to find new ways to target criminals in California. It has threatened to withhold federal funds to California due to its 'sanctuary state' law, which limits county jails from coordinating with ICE except in cases involving immigrants convicted of a serious crime or felonies such as murder, rape, robbery or arson. Last week, the U.S. Justice Department requested California counties, including L.A., provide data on all jail inmates who are not U.S. citizens in an effort to help federal immigration agents prioritize those who have committed crimes. 'Although every illegal alien by definition violates federal law,' the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release, 'those who go on to commit crimes after doing so show that they pose a heightened risk to our Nation's safety and security.' As Americans are bombarded with dueling narratives of good vs. bad immigrants, Kocher believes the question we have to grapple with is not 'What does the data say?' Instead, we should ask: 'How do we meaningfully distinguish between immigrants with serious criminal convictions and immigrants who are peacefully living their lives?' 'I don't think it's reasonable, or helpful, to represent everyone as criminals — or everyone as saints,' Kocher said. 'Probably the fundamental question, which is also a question that plagues our criminal justice system, is whether our legal system is capable of distinguishing between people who are genuine public safety threats and people who are simply caught up in the bureaucracy.' The data, Kocher said, show that ICE is currently unable or unwilling to make that distinction. 'If we don't like the way that the system is working, we might want to rethink whether we want a system where people who are simply living in the country following laws, working in their economy, should actually have a pathway to stay,' Kocher said. 'And the only way to do that is actually to change the laws.' In the rush to blast out mugshots of some of the most criminal L.A. immigrants, the Trump administration left out a key part of the story. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, its staff notified ICE on May 5 of Veneracion's pending release after he had served nearly 30 years in prison for the crimes of assault with intent to commit rape and sexual penetration with a foreign object with force. But ICE failed to pick up Veneracion and canceled its hold on him May 19, a day before he was released on parole. A few weeks later, as ICE amped up its raids, federal agents arrested Veneracion on June 7 at the ICE office in L.A. The very next day, DHS shared his mugshot in a news release titled 'President Trump is Stepping Up Where Democrats Won't.' The same document celebrated the capture of Phan, who served nearly 25 years in prison after he was convicted of second-degree murder. CDCR said the Board of Parole Hearings coordinated with ICE after Phan was granted parole in 2022. Phan was released that year to ICE custody. But those details did not stop Trump officials from taking credit for his arrest and blaming California leaders for letting Phan loose. 'It is sickening that Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass continue to protect violent criminal illegal aliens at the expense of the safety of American citizens and communities,' DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Los Angeles Times
17 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Tejano singer Bobby Pulido is considering running for Congress
Tejano singer Bobby Pulido is taking steps toward a congressional bid in South Texas to challenge Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz. On Thursday, Pulido announced that he is launching an exploratory committee to look at 'possibly' running as a Democrat for a U.S. Congress position in 2026. The 'Desvelado' singer took to social media to clarify his reasons for his shift away from music and toward politics. 'Many of you know me from my music career, so you know I'm not a career politician, but I've always had a desire to serve,' Pulido said in a Thursday Instagram video. 'I studied political science at St. Mary's University [in San Antonio] before I decided to launch a music career. And I've chosen to leave the stage to see if I can help make the future a little bit better for our kids and our community.' The Edinburg, Texas, native took aim at De La Cruz's management of the Lone Star State's 15th Congressional District. 'Like a lot of South Texans, I'm tired of watching these folks like Monica De La Cruz go to Washington and put her party before the people,' he said. 'She's made that choice every single time.' Pulido promised he would listen to the voices of 'everyday Texans' regardless of their political affiliations or professions, before saying he is prepping to host 'ranch halls' to meet and learn from potential constituents. The 54-year-old performer will face an uphill battle if his potential campaign takes off as Texas emergency physician Dr. Ada Cuellar launched her campaign as a Democrat for the same congressional seat on July 17. Pulido said he got the idea to pursue political office from Lorena Saenz Gonzalez, the wife of Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas). She told Pulido she was impressed with his political knowledge and nudged him to consider running for office. Gonzalez had previously served as the 15th District's representative but announced in October 2021 that he would run in the 34th District due to the statewide redistricting done by the Texas Legislature in fall 2021. The redistricting was criticized for leading to the dilution of the Latino vote in the region and upheld as a prime example of Republican gerrymandering. In 2022, De La Cruz became the district's first Republican representative following the restricting and was reelected in 2024. President Trump also became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the majority of votes in the district in decades during the 2020 election. Speaking on the redrawing of the 15th District, Pulido was very clear on where he stands. 'I'm not happy with the redistricting. I think it's cheating, and I don't think this is what democracy should be like,' he told The Times Friday afternoon. 'But at the end of the day, you can draw the lines, but you can't draw the people.' One way he aims to focus on the people of the district is through his emphasis on immigration policy. 'Nobody wants to fix it, everybody wants to campaign on it — we absolutely need comprehensive immigration reform,' Pulido said. 'We should not have to choose between let them all in or kick them all out. People on both sides have to have the will to actually do something about it.' He also expressed concern for the struggle of immigrants amid the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids happening nationwide. 'They're ripping people from families, and then, you know, they're taking even American citizens and detaining them just based on how they look, and so it has to stop,' Pulido said. We have to do something about it, we can't continue to ignore it, because people are not pawns and that's what I feel is happening.' Another major issue for the musician-turned-hopeful-politician is the struggling economy of the Rio Grande Valley. 'I feel the economy and tariffs need to be addressed,' Pulido said. 'By all the metrics that we're seeing, even on a national scale, [the economy] is not well. Inflation is going higher, and I don't think these [current] policies are what the people expected; it's not giving us good results.' Pulido also expressed concern for the state of healthcare in the district, noting that people often prefer to go across the border for medical services. 'We have a lot of people that go get their healthcare in Mexico because it's more affordable. I'm not talking about a little difference; it's an astronomical difference,' he said. 'It's just it's very sad that people have to go to another country to get the healthcare that they can afford, and I feel like special interests have really dug their claws into politicians and they don't do anything to help the people.' The 'Se Murió de Amor' musician acknowledged that the Democratic Party has failed the district, which has led to Republican gains. 'I feel like the party's been a little bit negligent and not really addressing the values that Latinos have,' Pulido explained. 'I don't think the Republicans have done anything special. I don't think that's the case, but nonetheless, I think a lot of people down there feel like their vote was taken for granted.' He explained that he wants to run an 'issues-based campaign,' making sure not to run on a platform of 'vote for me because I'm famous.' 'We have to really go work on issues that affect everyday people's lives,' Pulido said. 'So that's what I intend to do, if the people are accepting of me being as a candidate, and we'll find out with these with these ranch halls.' In November, Pulido announced that he would be leaving music behind after a 2025 farewell tour to pursue a career in politics. 'To be quite honest, I'm enjoying the most success I've ever had. But like the saying goes: All good things must come to an end,' Pulido said last year during a press conference. 'Today, I'm announcing my farewell tour for next year. It's not a decision I have hastily made. I've given it a lot of thought. I think my life has reached a full circle.' He added, 'Growing up, public service always intrigued me. I was a Texas Boy Stater in high school and studied political sciences because it was a passion of mine. In 2026, I will be running for office in an attempt to fulfill my lifelong dream: to serve my people.'
