On Tuesday, December 2, the Public Safety Committee of the Oakland City Council will discuss an ordinance which would essentially prohibit circuses from exhibiting elephants by banning the use of the elephant guide (also called a bull hook/ankus).   If this ordinance is passed, it would prevent Ringling Bros. and other circuses from visiting the city of Oakland by preventing the use of a widely accepted elephant management tool which is absolutely necessary to safely display elephants in a public setting.  If the Public Safety Committee votes in favor of this ordinance, it will then go before the full City Council for a hearing and vote on Tuesday, December 9.

In December 2013, the Oakland City Council passed an ordinance which will require circuses with exotic animals to obtain a permit prior to visiting the city, and which will also require animal inspections during circus engagements.  The 2013 ordinance does not prohibit performing and exotic animals in the city.  Despite this legislative action last year, local activists are pushing for a bull hook ordinance which would ban circus elephants entirely.

Please take a moment to contact the members of the Oakland City Council with a short e-mail, phone call, or letter, and encourage your friends and family to do the same – especially those that live in Oakland or who have been to circus performances in the city.  Sample talking points for your correspondence are listed at the end of this alert, but please use your own words and your own experiences as a circus animal supporter to politely express your opposition to an elephant ban. 

If you have any questions, please contact Mary Lou Kelly at mkelly@feldinc.com.  If anyone in the Oakland area is available to testify at the December 2^nd or December 9^th Council meetings in support of elephants in circuses, please let Mary Lou know.  Thank you for your help!

Contact Information:

City Council Mailing address: Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, 2^nd Floor, Oakland, CA 94612

FAX for City Council: (510) 238-6910

Email addresses for entire City Council and City Administrator (copy and paste into the “To” field in your email): Pkernighan@oaklandnet.com; dkalb@oaklandnet.com; CFarmer@oaklandnet.com; lschaaf@oaklandnet.com; ngallo@oaklandnet.com; dbrooks@oaklandnet.com; lreid@oaklandnet.com; atlarge@oaklandnet.com; cityadministrator@oaklandnet.com

Oakland City Council Members:

Patricia Kernighan (Council President)

Phone: (510) 238-7002

Email: Pkernighan@oaklandnet.com

Dan Kalb

Phone: (510) 238-7001

Email: dkalb@oaklandnet.com

Lynette Gibson McElhaney 

Phone: (510)238-7003

Email: CFarmer@oaklandnet.com (policy analyst for Councilmember McElhaney)

Libby Schaaf

Phone: (510) 238-7004

Email: lschaaf@oaklandnet.com

Noel Gallo

Phone: (510) 238-7005

Email: ngallo@oaklandnet.com

Desley Brooks

Phone: (510) 238-7006

Email: dbrooks@oaklandnet.com

Larry Reid (Vice Mayor)

Phone: (510) 238-7007

E-mail: lreid@oaklandnet.com

Rebecca Kaplan (President Pro Tem)

Phone: (510) 238-7008

Email: atlarge@oaklandnet.com

City Administrator Henry Gardner

Phone: (510) 238-3301

Email: cityadministrator@oaklandnet.com

Mayor Jean Quan

1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza

3rd Floor

Oakland, CA 94612

(contact the Mayor via standard mail only; email address is not available)

Sample Talking Points

The following are suggestions for your correspondence in Oakland, but please use your own words, and you do not need to include every bullet point.  Please keep all correspondence respectful.

·         Politely tell the City Council members that you are OPPOSED to any measure that would prevent circuses and other travelling exhibitors with elephants from visiting Oakland.

·         The Oakland City Council passed a strong animal ordinance last year which will require circuses with exotic animals to obtain a permit prior to visiting the city, and which will also require animal inspections during circus engagements.  The City of Oakland should allow this ordinance to be implemented fully rather than banning the industry altogether.

·         The ordinance passed in Oakland last year duplicates state and federal permitting and inspection requirements regulating exotic and performing animals.  These regulations provide protection to all performing animals and allow for the prosecution of those who neglect or mistreat the animals in their care.

·         Millions of American families support and enjoy traditional circuses with elephants and other exotic animals, including many thousands who attend shows in Richmond.  It is wrong to deprive them of the right to choose to do so.

·         Circuses and other traveling exhibitors with performing animals contribute to the local economies of the communities they perform in and support hundreds of jobs for local arena and other workers.

·         If any animal is being mistreated in any environment, then the right answer is to enforce existing laws and regulations to punish bad actors, as opposed to punishing an entire industry and the public who enjoy circuses.

·         Circus elephants and other performing animals are well cared for and it only makes sense that circuses would take good care of them.  In fact, performing circus animals generally are healthier and live longer than their counterparts in zoos.

·         True animal experts know that a safe and secure environment is the only acceptable and successful method of training any animal, including elephants.  The elephant guide, sometimes called a bull hook or ankus, has been used by elephant handlers for thousands of years.  Elephant handlers in zoos, nature preserves and circuses throughout the world use the guide as an extension of the trainer’s arm along with a voice command.

·         Proponents of performing animal bans mischaracterize or misunderstand the facts about the training and handling of circus animals. Most of the organizations that advocate such bans do so as part of a larger, animal rights agenda which opposes all or most human interaction with animals.

Thank you!