LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- An art exhibit near downtown Los Angeles that drew criticism from animal rights activists for including a spray-painted elephant ended its run Sunday, with the elephant minus the paint.

British artist Banksy's "Barely Legal" featured Tai, a 38-year-old Indian elephant trucked in from Riverside County, who was spray-painted in pink and gold and stood among a living-room set in a warehouse just southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The "living room" in which she stood was cordoned off by a picket fence.

Cards handed out to patrons said: "There's an elephant in the room. There's a problem we never talk about. The fact is that life isn't getting any fairer, 20 billion people live below the poverty line."

The colorfully painted elephant and the rest of the exhibit drew not only celebrities -- Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were among those at the opening Thursday -- but jeers from activists and city officials, who issued permits for the exhibit.

Ed Boks, the head of Los Angeles Animal Services, told the Los Angeles Times he regretted his agency issuing permits for the animal to participate.

"This situation is causing the department to rethink its permitting procedures so there will be more scrutiny, so permits will not be issued for such frivolous abuse of animals in the future," he told the newspaper.

Kari Johnson, the animal trainer who owns Tai, said the elephant was a show business veteran, used to makeup and that the paint was nontoxic.

Although the label to the paint can said the paint was nontoxic, it also said it was unsafe in prolonged contact with skin, and when the exhibit returned Sunday, the elephant was not painted, CBS2 reported.

The exhibit was scheduled to close at 8 p.m. Sunday, after which the elephant was to be returned to Riverside County.

In Orange County last week, Banksy placed a shackled blowup dummy, made to look like a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, inside the Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland.

The provocateur also placed about 500 of his own version of Paris Hilton's debut album in United Kingdom record stores, replacing the CD with his own and including naked pictures of Hilton.