California Senate Bill 716 has passed the Senate stage and has now been referred to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety and with a hearing date set for Tuesday, June 30.

This legislation would ban the use of the elephant guide (also called a bull hook/ankus) in the State of California beginning in 2018. It would apply not only to circuses but zoos and all other elephant exhibitors and facilities in California.  As you know, this is a widely accepted and humane elephant management tool that 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.

All of us who are opposed to such bans need your help.  Please take a moment to contact the members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee (see below) with a short e-mail, phone call, or letter, and encourage your friends and family to do the same – especially those who live in California or who have been to circus performances or elephant exhibits in the state.  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 express your opposition to CA SB 716.

Public Safety Committee Contact Information:

Email addresses for Public Safety Committee members: bill.quirk@asm.ca.gov, melissa.melendez@asm.ca.gov, assemblymember.jones-sawyer@asm.ca.gov, tom.lackey@asm.ca.gov, Assemblymember.lopez@assembly.ca.gov, evan.low@asm.ca.gov,  miguel.santiago@asm.ca.gov

FAX: 916-319-3745

Assembly Member Bill Quirk (Chair)

Room 2163

Sacramento, CA 94249-0020

Phone: (916) 319-2020

Assembly Member Melissa A. Melendez (Vice Chair)

Room 6031

Sacramento, CA 94249-0067

Phone: (916) 319-2067

Assembly Member Reginald B. Jones-Sawyer, Sr.

Room 4126

Sacramento, CA 94249-0059

Phone: (916) 319-2059

Assembly Member Tom Lackey                

Room 4009

Sacramento, CA 94249-0036

Phone: (916) 319-2036

Assembly Member Patty López

Room 5160

Sacramento, CA 94249-0039

Phone: (916) 319-2039

Assembly Member Evan Low    

Room 2175, Sacramento, CA 94249-0028

Phone: (916) 319-2028

Assembly Member Miguel Santiago       

Room 5119

Sacramento, CA 94249-0053

Phone: (916) 319-2053

Sample Talking Points

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

·         Politely tell the Public Safety Committee members that you are OPPOSED to any measure that would prevent elephant handlers and breeders in California from using this widely accepted and humane elephant management tool.

·         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.

·         The most successful Asian elephant breeding and conservation programs are free contact management, and that means using guides (bull hooks).  By banning this tool you would limit the ability of most California zoos to ever breed elephants successfully.

·         The North American elephant population is not sustainable and this is particularly true for Asian elephants.  Each year fewer zoos have elephants and even fewer have successful breeding programs, due in part from the movement away from free contact management of elephants.

·         The elephant guide is also approved by veterinary and zoological organizations because it enhances the ability of veterinarians and keepers to care for their elephants.

·         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 elephant exhibitions.

Thank you!