Letters to the Editor: Why did L.A. zoo renovations get such eager backing from our City Council?

To the editor: The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens continues its unethical campaign to gather funds and just received City Council backing without having a final design. What other entity has demanded money without even a blueprint?

Take a peek at the already oversized parking lot there and imagine the trees that were leveled. As the zoo insists now on creating 300 more parking spots (really), kiss the few trees that are left goodbye. All this to prepare for the international tourist, who, let’s face it, is there to see the Olympics and maybe a few other animals, located in Anaheim, named Mickey and Donald.

Ivan Borodin, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: I am extremely disappointed that the L.A. City Council has voted unanimously to certify the environmental impact report for the zoo’s renovation, despite criticism by environmental groups and hillside neighborhoods.

There are a lot of us animal activists who are against this renovation because we have seen before that the renovations usually are about making it more pleasurable for visitors than for the animals who live there.

So let’s see — the L.A. Zoo is destroying the natural habitat of wild animals to build more parking spaces and give the poor elephants what will still be insufficient space for them! I also wonder if the orangutans will finally get some trees — I doubt it.

The $650 million for the initial phase could have gone to actually save endangered species, but our City Council and the zoo back further imprisonment for wild animals.

Patty Shenker, Woodland Hills