Slash Battling Lily Tomlin Over Zoo Elephant

Slash is duking it out with actress Lily Tomlin over a proposed state-of-the-art educational habitat for endangered Asian elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Tomlin wants Los Angeles City Council officials to scrap a campaign to build a new Pachyderm Forest for the Zoo's resident elephant Billy, and instead allow the creature to retire in a California sanctuary.

But Slash is a fan of the proposed state-of-the-art new educational habitat for Billy and other endangered Asian elephants. "I just want everybody to try to support this cause because it's very important," the one-time Guns N' Roses guitarist said in a statement. "Billy has been taken care of at the zoo for about 20 years. He has four keepers, who have been at his beck and call, taking care of him and providing him with optimal medical care and everything else that he needs."

But self-professed animal lover Tomlin called on officials to halt the Pachyderm Forest project, insisting the elephant's longstanding quarter of an acre home at the zoo is inhumane. "The habitat is simply not big enough, and no habitat in a zoo is big enough for an elephant," Tomlin said. "They are mammoth and majestic and beautiful and sensitive, and, for generations, we have put elephants in zoos."

We sense this is something that can't fairly be settled by a nice game of 'Guitar Hero.'

Guns N Roses Rewind

    Axl Rose of Guns N' RosesGuns N' Roses in Concert at Bella Villa Park in Lisbon - May 27, 2006(Photo by WireImage.com)

    Axl Rose of Guns N' RosesGuns N' Roses in Concert at Bella Villa Park in Lisbon - May 27, 2006(Photo by WireImage.com)

    Axl Rose of Guns N' RosesGuns N' Roses Special Guest Performance for Rosario Dawson's Birthday Party at The Plumm - May 18, 2006(Photo by KMazur, WireImage.com)

    Musician Axl Rose presents onstage at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall August 31, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Gries, Getty Images)

    Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses performs at the 2002 MTV Video Music AwardsNew York City, New York USAAugust 29, 2002(Photo by John Shearer, WireImage.com)

    Axl Rose(Photo by KMazur, WireImage.com)

    Axl Rose(Photo by KMazur, WireImage.com)

    Axl Rose(Photo by KMazur, WireImage.com)

    Slash and Axl RoseGuns N Roses Perform Live At Rock In Rio II - January 15 1991(Photo by Ke.Mazur, WireImage.com)

    Duff McKagan, backup singer, Slash, Axl Rose and Matt Sorum of Guns N' Roses(Photo by KMazur, WireImage.com)

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