LA Zoo elephants Billy and Tina are missing amid controversy over their relocation to the Tulsa Zoo. Activists and officials are frustrated by the secretive transfer, advocating for the elephants to be moved to a sanctuary instead.

The whereabouts of a pair of Los Angeles Zoo elephants at the center of an ongoing relocation dispute was unclear Wednesday morning amid suspicions that they may have already been moved to another state.

A judge denied an emergency motion that would have halted the transfer of Billy and Tina the elephants from the L.A. Zoo to the Tulsa Zoo, instead of a sanctuary, where many advocates had hoped they would go.