On December 17, 2015, the Ordinance Committee of the Cambridge City Council held a public hearing on an ordinance to prohibit the use of wild and exotic animals in traveling shows and circuses.  If passed, this ordinance would make it unlawful to “conduct, sponsor, walk, exhibit or operate a traveling show or circus that includes wild or exotic animals” within the City of Cambridge.  The ordinance passed the Committee and is now tentatively scheduled to go before the full Cambridge City Council on February 8, 2016.  (**Update: the Feb. 8 City Council meeting was cancelled due to weather conditions, so the ordinance may be voted upon at the next meeting on Feb. 22.**)

Please take a moment to contact the nine (9) members of the Cambridge City Council with a short e-mail, phone call, fax, or letter, stating that you oppose this exotic animal ordinance.  Encourage your friends, family, and other contacts to do the same – especially those who live in the Cambridge/Boston area or who have been to any sort of animal exhibit in Cambridge.  Contact information for the City Council members is listed below.  Sample talking points for your correspondence are also included at the end of this alert, but please use your own words and your own experiences as a supporter of exotic animal displays/performances to politely express your opposition to this ordinance.

For your reference, the attached document contains the text of the proposed Cambridge ordinance, the city’s legal opinion, and background material that has been sent to City Council members.  Please note that the document is 33 pages long – if you have trouble opening the attachment because of its size, you can also access the document at the following link:

http://www2.cambridgema.gov/CityOfCambridge_Content/documents/Exotic%20Animal%20attachment.pdf

 Thank you!

Cambridge, MA City Council

Mailing address:

Cambridge City Council

City Hall, 2nd Floor

795 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, MA 02139

Phone: (617) 349-4280

FAX: (617) 349-4287

Email: council@cambridgema.gov  (messages sent to this address will be received by all nine councilors)

Individual City Council members:

David P. Maher (Mayor)                               dmaher@cambridgema.gov

Dennis A. Benzan (Vice Mayor)                 dbenzan@cambridgema.gov

Dennis J. Carlone                                       dcarlone@cambridgema.gov

Leland Cheung                                            lcheung@cambridgema.gov

Craig A. Kelley                                              ckelley@cambridgema.gov

Nadeem A. Mazen                                       nmazen@cambridgema.gov

Marc C. McGovern                                       mmcgovern@cambridgema.gov

E. Denise Simmons                                   dsimmons@cambridgema.gov

Timothy J. Toomey, JR.                                ttoomey@cambridgema.gov

Sample Talking Points

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

·         Politely tell the Cambridge City Council members that you are OPPOSED to the exotic animal ordinance, as well as any measure that would prevent circuses and other exotic animal exhibitors from visiting Cambridge.

·         Circus animals and other performing animals are well cared for and 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 and handling any animal, including exotic and performing animals.

·         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 exotic animal displays.

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