On December 9, 2014, the Oakland City Council voted 5-2 to pass a ban on elephant management tools, which will take effect in September 2017.  The ban means that circuses with elephants will not be able to perform in Oakland.  An article summarizing the City Council meeting is below.

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_27108937/oakland-bans-bullhooks-circus-cross-city-off-tour

Oakland bans bullhooks; circus to cross city off tour

By Matthew Artz

martz@bayareanewsgroup.com

Posted:   12/10/2014 11:34:08 AM PST

OAKLAND -- Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced it will stop coming to Oakland four years from now after the City Council voted in the wee hours of Wednesday morning to ban the tool used by trainers to keep elephants in line.

The 5-2 vote to outlaw bullhooks beginning in 2018 was a major victory for animal welfare organizations who are mounting a national campaign against the device they view as an instrument of torture.

"Thanks to the Oakland City Council, elephants in Oakland will be protected from ... weapons that resemble a fireplace poker with a sharp hook on one end," said David Perle, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "PETA looks forward to seeing more cities across the country follow Oakland's compassionate and progressive example."

Oakland follows Los Angeles in passing a law banning bullhooks, and they are the only major cities to do so. Both cities decided to delay implementation of the ban for several years.

Proponents of the bullhook ban had pushed for quick council action this month because two supporters of the ban would no longer be in office in January. A procedurally required second vote is expected to take place later this month.

Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, which operates Ringling Bros., criticized council members for giving greater weight to "testimony from animal rights veterinaries who have no experience handling elephants" and for rushing to pass the legislation. 

"The process of this was completely unfair and absurd," Payne said. "Clearly they tried ramming this through at the eleventh hour because they probably believed they couldn't get this passed when the new council convenes in January."

Payne said the circus might try to get the new council to reconsider bullhooks before the ban takes effect.

Bullhooks are used on circus elephants from an early age. While circus officials and animal welfare advocates differ on how much physical harm the devices cause, they agreed that the circus could not safely showcase elephants without bullhooks.

The circus had been backed by organized labor in fighting the bullhook ban. Unions were concerned that Feld would pull all of its events from Oakland, including Disney on Ice and motocross, which could have cost some unionized workers at the Oracle Arena the hours they needed to qualify for health insurance.

After the council vote, Payne said that his company had no plans to withdraw its other events. The loss of the circus will cost the publicly owned arena about $400,000 in revenue, officials said.

Council members Larry Reid and Desley Brooks opposed the bullhook ban. Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney abstained.

Councilman Dan Kalb praised the Teamsters for helping craft the final compromise measure that delays the ban for four years.

"It's a win-win," he said. "The reality is that this is serious torture, ... and it will take some local laws to protect the animals."

The debate, which lasted about four hours, was briefly halted while more than 100 anti-police-violence protesters amassed outside City Hall. Ultimately, the council decided to continue with the meeting and restore access to the building, but by then the protesters had already moved on.

Contact Matthew Artz at 510-208-6435.