Activists protest circus in Hailey

Posted: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 4:00 am

    A grassroots effort to keep circuses that use lions, elephants and other exotic animals out of the Wood River Valley is gaining traction in Hailey.

    The city has received $4,000 from the Jordan World Circus to use the Hailey rodeo arena on June 6, but the permit remains under review because of concerns over parking due to ongoing construction at the Hailey Ice rink nearby.

    Last summer, a group of local students, led by animal rights advocate and Ketchum resident Maya Burrell, asked the Hailey City Council to deny a permit to Jordan World Circus, based on its “inhumane” treatment of its circus animals, and the dangers posed, should they escape.

    At that time, Hailey Mayor Fritz Haemmerle refused to prohibit the circus, saying it represented a 150-year-old tradition. Yet, the students were instructed to start a community initiative to gain voter approval to place a ban such animal uses.

    The students did not follow through on the initiative, but they showed up again on Monday at City Hall with numerous parents and supporters. They claimed that the use of exotic animals, kept in cages and allegedly abused by trainers, constitutes a violation of the city requirement that animals are treated in a “humane manner.”

    The students were joined this year by Animal Defenders International Campaigns Director Matt Rossell, who said 51 cities and counties in 23 states have passed legislation prohibiting the use of wild animals for such entertainment.

    Ketchum has already instituted a ban on the use of exotic animals.

    “We conduct undercover investigations into the conditions of these animals, and study the science about impacts on these animals of training and travel,” said Rossell, who showed a video of circus elephants apparently out of the control of their trainers. He also told the City Council about a circus elephant that crushed its trainer to death before running amuck in Honolulu and was later killed by police.

“When elephants rampage, they can be down your Main Street,” said Rossell. “People think they are tame or domesticated animals, but they are wild. They are made to perform only because of dominance from trainers that is established when they are babies.”

Burrell was not present Monday, but provided to city staff a draft ordinance that would prohibit the use of elephants, lions, tigers and bears in the city.

    City Councilman Don Keirn and Councilwomen Martha Burke and Carol Brown expressed interest in passing an ordinance to prohibit wild and exotic animals from the city.

    City Councilman Pat Cooley said he was concerned that such an ordinance might have the unintended consequence of also drawing attention to the way animals are treated at rodeos.

    “I don’t want to get onto that slippery slope from wild animals to wild rodeos,” Cooley said.

    The City Council will address the issue again at a public meeting on May 18.