Cher is gonna be pissed! The beloved L.A. Zoo elephants she went to bat for -- Billy and Tina -- were secreted outta the zoo under the cover of darkness last night ... TMZ has learned.
00:00Yesterday, it's like 5.30, I'm walking out the door, and my phone rings, and we get a tip that there's this big thing at the L.A. Zoo with these two elephants.
00:12It has been a battle for weeks now. Billy and Tina are the Asian elephants.
00:17For years, Charles. Cher's been working on this for years.
00:19But it really came to a head in the last couple of weeks because advocates for the elephants found out that the L.A. Zoo was planning to transfer them, Billy and Tina, to the Tulsa Zoo.
00:30And they were so against this. They sent a fiery letter to the mayor, Karen Bass. There was a lawsuit that was filed.
00:36They wanted to put him in a sanctuary. Right. And live out the rest of their days.
00:41They tried to get a judge to block it, and the judge refused. So everyone was upset about what was going to happen to Billy and Tina.
00:47So we get a tip that the elephants were moved in the middle of the night yesterday at 1.30 in the morning, that they were put in some kind of a truck.
00:59In a semi-truck.
01:00In a semi-truck in cages. And they were shipped off in the middle of the night. And nobody said anything. And they did it so nobody would know that they were doing it.
01:10And that's what we were told.
01:11Well, because like you mentioned, there have been so many people upset with this decision, begging the L.A. Zoo to please send them to a sanctuary.
01:22These two elephants have been showing signs of zookosis.
01:25Right.
01:26But like you mentioned, the L.A. Zoo, they're standing by this. They've released a statement saying that this is the best thing they've determined for the elephant.
01:34I've got to tell you this story because, honestly, so we're working on this thing yesterday.
01:39Working on the story. Trying to get ready to publish it.
01:40So he's writing this. And I call the zoo. And the person who answers the phone is like, I don't think anybody's going to talk to you.
01:49And I said, well, look, find somebody because we're going to post a story.
01:52So she puts me on hold. Never comes back on the phone. I wait for 15 minutes.
01:56I get the cell phone for the public information officer. That's the person who's supposed to talk to the media.
02:02Called how many times, maybe?
02:03At least 20.
02:0420 times.
02:05Did a serious power dial. It just kept ringing.
02:08Nothing.
02:08Nothing. And then I called the deputy mayor for Los Angeles, for Karen Bass, the mayor.
02:14Who is actually in control, like overseas zoo operations.
02:18Oversees zoo operations. And she says to me, I said, it's Harvey Levin from TMZ.
02:24That's all I said. She said, we have no comment. Hangs up on me.
02:28It's like they're acting. I'm not saying they are, but they're acting like criminals.
02:32It's like we scurry the animals out at 1.30 in the morning, stonewalling, trying to call people,
02:38just to get some response to this and even to make sure we're accurate.
02:42Right. It seemed clear to us that they were trying to avoid more controversy.
