Will Goldie Hawn stump up for Billy?

A herd of Hollywood A-list celebrities, among them Goldie Hawn (pictured), Susan Sarandon and Kim Basinger, will find out this week if their campaign to give Billy the Elephant a proper place to live has been successful.

They and other animal activists do not want Billy, a 23-year-old Asian bull elephant, to stay at his current home, the Los Angeles Zoo, even if the completion of a new $42m state-of-the art enclosure, featuring whirlpools, mud-holes and waterfalls, is approved by the City of Los Angeles Council on Wednesday.

Instead, Goldie et al want Billy to be removed to a sanctuary in the San Fernando Valley, northern California, which is run by the Performing Animal Welfare Society. There, Billy would be reunited with Ruby, another elephant previously moved from the zoo, and would, they say, be free of the stresses of being confined in a small space.

To this end, another supporter Bob Barker, host of the US game show The Price is Right, has personally pledged $1.5m of his own money to finance the move. Thus far, neither Goldie Hawn, nor any of the other high-profile Hollywood campaigners - who include Halle Berry and the Guns 'n Roses guitarist Slash - have offered to dip their hands in their pockets.