Free Billy! A Letter from ‘Pam’ – Kristin Bauer
Kristin Bauer as "Pam"
True Blood’s Kristin Bauer, who plays our beloved Pam on the series, is urging fans to help in her campaign to free a lonely, caged, elephant called Billy, being kept at the L.A. Zoo. In a letter to True Blood fans, Kristin has this to say:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
To my fellow “True Blood” Fans. This is Pam. I would love to ask you for five minutes of your time ~ or I’ll track you down and bite you…wait, come to think of it, I am speaking to fans so let me change that ~ if you help us I promise to track you down and bite you! Well, I will certainly send you an autograph, but I would have anyway.
I love animals and want them to have lives as close to their natural and intended life as possible.
Billy is an elephant at the LA ZOO. You can see him, and his story on youtube at this link:
Billy on YouTube
Billy has been at the Zoo for two decades and has been alone for years. He stands bobbing his head all day. A behavior never once recorded in elephants in the wild. They are social animals who can live to be 70 but in Zoos and Circuses a majority of the time they don’t even live to 20. One of Billy’s exhibit mates died of a heart attack next to him. The other, Ruby, was moved to the Paws Elephant Sanctuary in California to live on hundreds of acres with eleven other elephants and they are ready to take Billy today! Bob Barker has even donated the $200,000.00 it will cost to move him!!
We have been working on this for a while. The City council members and the LA Zoo wanted to spend over $40 million of our tax payer money to build Billy a bigger enclosure which would have taken years and would never be even close to the Paws sanctuary where Ruby and hundreds of acres await Billy.
We have won that battle, construction has been halted!
We won with calls and e-mails from people who care. And it takes less than five minutes.
But they are still holding on to Billy. The LA ZOO people say, “Don’t let them take our Elephant. He has great medical care.” But so do our prisoners. The Zoo people care about the Zoo and keeping what it has. The Billy people want Billy to have the best medical care, friends and as much room to roam as possible.
We need to help get Billy to the Paws sanctuary to be reunited with his friend Ruby and to live a long healthy life!.
We can do that with e-mails to the council members, Oprah and the LA Daily newspaper.
1. Council member e-mail block: “Let Billy go to Paws!”
councilmember.reyes@lacity.org;
councilmember.greuel@lacity.org;
councilmember.zine@lacity.org;
councilmember.labonge@lacity.org;
councilmember.weiss@lacity.org;
councilmember.parks@lacity.org;
councilmember.cardenas@lacity.org;
jan.perry@lacity.org;
councilmember.wesson@lacity.org;
councilmember.rosendahl@lacity.org;
councilmember.smith@lacity.org;
councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org;
councilmember.huizar@lacity.org;
councilmember.hahn@lacity.org
2. Post to the LA DAILY “Move Billy to the Paws Sanctuary.”
LA DAILY
3. Tell Oprah about Billy and that we’d like to see a show about the treatment of Elephants.
OPRAH
4. Don’t support the circus and inhumane Zoos. How would we like to live in a Zoo? If we commit a crime we’ll find out.
Thank you so much for any help and also for your support of one of the favorite roles I have ever played on the coolest show ever! You make all that possible.
Love,
Pam
For an autograph send a SASE to:
Kristin Bauer
c/o The Kohner Agency
9300 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 555
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
What do you say, TB fans? Can we rally around Billy and help Kristin free him? There’s power in numbers!
Here’s my letter:
Dear Council Members,
I’m writing to ask you to please consider changing your mind about Billy.
Animals need social interaction. This poor elephant has the opportunity to be with others of his own kind. I understand you folks care about Billy and that you want to keep him where he is – but in the end, isn’t this for what you perceive as your own benefit, not his? Billy is lonely, and keeping him that way is cruel.
I can understand why you may think it’s better for your city to keep him in your zoo, but please, make your decision solely for Billy’s good. Elephants are special and unique animals, and those in the singular position of caring for one have a very special responsibility.
I even understand the argument about medical care, but he will have that at the Paws sanctuary too, along with the company of other elephants, and the kind of acreage where he can get proper exercise and engage in behaviors that are more natural to his species.
In the end, letting him go would be good for your city and its people as well. When they visit your zoo, they can feel proud that Billy is in a place that’s better for him. This would create huge goodwill for your administration. A further benefit would be that knowing Billy was where he could be happiest and healthiest would be a special source of pride and satisfaction for your city’s children.
Have a heart, please, and let Billy go to Paws.
Most sincerely,
(And of course my name.)
And my letter to Oprah:
Dear Oprah,
I’m writing to ask you to please consider airing the plight of Billy the Elephant from the LA Zoo on your show.
Animals need social interaction. This poor elephant is alone, and showing the signs of psychological stress. Now he has the opportunity to be with others of his own kind, but the city council wants to keep him in their zoo for their own benefit.
There is a sanctuary called Paws where he would have the company of others of his own kind, proper medical care, and hundreds of acres for him to get exercise and engage in behaviors more natural for elephants. Bob Barker has donated the money to move him, and the sanctuary is ready to take him in, yet those in care of him think of him as “their” elephant and refuse to let him go.
I have written to the city council members asking them to consider the goodwill they would generate for their city and their zoo if they were to make the best decision for Billy and not for the bottom line, as have many others, I am sure, but I am hoping you will lake up the cause and really get things moving as only you can.
I’m sure others have also contacted you, possibly including Bob Barker and Kristen Bauer of the show TrueBlood. I’m writing to add my voice to theirs. Please look into this, Oprah – you’ve done so very much for so many causes, and I am sure that your interest and influence could help this poor lonely elephant.
Most sincerely,
(And again, of course, my name.)
One more thing. I have received a lot of autoresponder replies to my emails to all the council members. Most of them specifically said that they really only consider emails from their local constituents that include addresses, email addresses and if possible, phone numbers. It’s a shame, but politics is politics. So if you live in their areas, it’s extra important for you to write in because many of the rest of us won’t be considered. When you do, it’ll help if you give them your name and address, email address, and if you don’t mind, your phone number.
From a life of activism, I’ll also say this; if you can send them actual paper letters, it means more to them. Politicians count each actual letter as signifying much more support than an email or phone call, because it takes a slightly greater effort to write a real letter. If you can’t then email is great, but if you can generate a postal letter it would be extra helpful.
Thanks to Pam for making this issue known! And for a great performance on TrueBlood. Your deadpan (no pun intended) manner as Pam is as expressive as many others’ far more animated performances. To quote the also very wonderful Andrew Rothenberg as Malcolm: “Brava!”
Have there been any updates?
When we asked Kristin Bauer about this, she told us that the zoo was refusing to let Billy go.
I just sent an email to Oprah. I hope this helps! I cant see animals hurt or caged in. I love all animals and Im a member to a few organizations.
Free Billy!!!!
Elaine xoxo