LOS ANGELES - A City Council committee has rejected a move to stop work on a $40 million elephant enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo.
The panel's decision came Thursday despite pleas from celebrities such as Lily Tomlin and Bob Barker to instead fund a 60-acre elephant sanctuary in the San Fernando Valley.
The council committee declined to take a vote that would have sent the proposal to the full council for consideration.
Celebrities who want to remove the elephants from the zoo say living there can harm their health and shorten their lives. Tomlin says she thinks "the word zoo is elephant-speak for Guantanamo."
Zoo Director John Lewis says the new exhibit will be 6 acres, large enough to make the elephants safe and comfortable.
