Fur flies between animal lovin’ goldie oldies BETTY & BOB!
THE fur’s been flying for years between animal rights activists Betty White and Bob Barker – but now the funnylady is desperate to mend fences with the game-show legend.
Sources say the two haven’t spoken since they locked horns in 2009 in a dispute over an elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo. But with her 92nd birthday coming up, and Barker just turning 90, the “Hot in Cleveland” actress apparently wants to bury the hatchet.
“Betty and Bob have been at the forefront of a group of celebrities that began advocating for animals decades ago,” said a source.
“She believes that just because they don’t see eye to eye on every issue doesn’t mean they can’t be civil to each other.”
While the Emmy-winning star of “The Golden Girls” and “Mary Tyler Moore” show supports zoos, Barker opposes them. They clashed when she supported a $42 million project to expand the L.A. Zoo’s living quarters for a 25-year-old elephant, and “Price Is Right” host Barker tried to block the project. Betty won that battle, prompting Barker to call her his “sworn enemy.”
Despite that, this year “Betty sent Bob a birthday gift with a note, saying she’d love to get together and talk,” said the source.
“She wrote, ‘We don’t have to agree on everything, but we can listen to each other’s opinions. Maybe a couple of old dogs could teach each other some new tricks.’”
Sadly, the plea didn’t seem to change Barker’s mind. “Bob is unflinching in his position that elephants don’t belong in zoos,” said the friend. “As long as Betty remains a zoo advocate, he feels they have nothing to talk about.”
