**UPDATE** The bullhook ordinance passed the Austin City Council on August 6.  The ordinance will go into effect in October 2016.

(Previous alert)

On Monday, June 1 at 4:00PM CST, the Austin City Council’s Health and Human Services Committee will be conducting a public hearing on a proposed ordinance to ban the use of the elephant guide (also called a bull hook/ankus).  The proposed ordinance (attached) would essentially prohibit all elephant exhibitors from visiting the city of Austin.  As you know, this widely accepted and humane elephant management tool is absolutely necessary for people to safely work or interact with elephants in a public setting, whether it is in a circus, at a fair, or in a zoo.  Further, proper use of the elephant guide is a crucial component for elephant management in breeding and conservation programs and for providing comprehensive veterinary care.  In short, elephants are better off when they can be cared for in the hands-on manner that this tool allows.

If the Health and Human Services Committee decides to move forward with this proposal, the ordinance will go to the full City Council for consideration.  Please take a moment to contact the members of the Austin City Council with a short e-mail, phone call, or letter, and encourage your friends and family to do the same – especially those who live in Austin or who have been to circus performances or elephant exhibits in the city.  Please note that if you wrote to the Austin City Council members at the end of 2014 (when this issue was first being discussed), all but one of the members are new this year, so this is a great opportunity to let the new Council members know that you are opposed to this ordinance.  Sample talking points for your correspondence are listed at the end of this alert, but please use your own words and your own experiences to politely express your opposition to this elephant ban.   

The City Council roster is below.  Individual email addresses are not available unless you go to the City Council website at http://www.austintexas.gov/government and click on each member individually.  To save time and email all Council members at once, use this link: http://www.austintexas.gov/mail/all-council-members.   

Austin, TX City Council members:

Mayor Steve Adler

Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo

Ora Houston

Delia Garza

Sabino Renteria

Gregorio Casar

Ann Kitchen

Don Zimmerman

Leslie Pool

Ellen Troxclair

Sheri Gallo 

Mailing Address:  301 W. Second Street, Austin, Texas 78701

Phone: (512) 974-2210 (City Clerk’s Office)

Email (for all Council members at once): http://www.austintexas.gov/mail/all-council-members

Thank you!

Sample Talking Points

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

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

·         All animal exhibitors are required to have a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) exhibitor’s license.  USDA conducts regular unannounced inspections of all performing animals and their stable areas, and their inspection reports are a matter of public record.

·         In addition, all elephant exhibitors are subject to state and local animal cruelty laws and permit requirements in the local cities they visit and the state of Texas.  Such regulations provide protection to all performing animals and allow for the prosecution of those who neglect or mistreat the animals in their care.

·         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.

·         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.

·         Elephants are an endangered species. Free contact management of elephants allows for better veterinary care and the most successful elephant breeding programs utilize free contact and the guide.

·         Proponents of performing animal bans mischaracterize or misunderstand the facts about the free contact training and handling of elephants. 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.