At their meeting on 5/3/10, the Albany Common (City) Council moved to add Resolution Number 54.51.10R, calling for the circus to stop using exotic animals for the purposes of entertainment, to the Council's pending agenda.  The link to the Council minutes from the meeting is at http://www.albanyny.gov/_files/050310Final.pdf.  Full text of the Resolution is pasted below.

Resolution Number 53.51.10R

RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL CALLING FOR THE CIRCUS TO STOP USING EXOTIC ANIMALS FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENTERTAINMENT

WHEREAS, the use of exotic animals to perform tricks they were never meant to perform in the nature for the mere entertainment value is inhumane; and

WHEREAS, many of these animals are being tortured during training, most while very young. They are being separated from their parents; and

WHEREAS, in addition such animals also possess a threat to humans when contained for entertainment value and many trainers deaths are a proof to such; and

WHEREAS, in medieval prisons, inmates were punished with a device called a "cat-o'-nine-tails" -- a whip made of nine knotted thongs of cord designed to lacerate the skin and cause intense pain. Reforms have rightfully eliminated such cruelty to human prisoners, but for animals in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, corporal punishment, even for baby pachyderms, is still routine. While the circus was at Madison Square Garden and other venues last year a PETA investigator caught Ringling employees hitting elephants with sharp metal bullhooks (a fireplace poker-like object that handlers use to dig into the sensitive areas behind an elephant's ears or knees, or under her arm, to make her obey); and

WHEREAS, the abuse is traditional, entrenched and begins when elephants are only months old. Photographs of Ringling's violent training sessions taken by an elephant trainer long employed by the circus shows crying baby elephants tied down with ropes by all four legs and forced to the ground by men wielding bullhooks and electric prods; and

WHEREAS, this 2009 information adds to the large body of evidence demonstrating ill-treatment of elephants to the point of death, with Ringling causing the deaths of at least three calves. An 8-month-old elephant was destroyed after he fractured his hind legs falling off a pedestal during a training exercise. Another baby, who had been pulled from his mother, trained, and put on the road, drowned in a pond as he attempted to get away from a trainer chasing and prodding him with a bullhook. A 3-year-old elephant died when he became very sick shortly after he was put on the road and was shoved back into the ring for three shows. And just recently, a 1-year-old elephant who was pulled off the road after just one month of travel and performances is now fighting the stress-related and very deadly herpes virus; and

WHEREAS, in their natural homes, elephants are highly social beings who share intense and complicated family relationships. Mothers teach babies life skills like how to use dust as sunscreen and to ward off insect bites, aunts babysit, and grandmothers mediate squabbles. Births are joyous celebrations; deaths of loved ones are mourned. Daughters stay with their mothers and extended families for life and sons until their early teens. In the circus, these emotional bonds are left in tatters.

WHEREAS, Ringling and other circuses have made it clear that they have no intention of stopping their abusive practices. And the law -- which provides minimal requirements for cage size and little else -- does not protect animals in circuses, and

WHEREAS, Ringling’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection reports are riddled with serious citations of problems that directly impact animal welfare. In 2006 alone, the circus was cited three times for failure to provide adequate veterinary care to a disabled elephant, to an elephant with a large swelling on her rear leg, and to a camel with bloody wounds. Also in 2006, Ringling was cited for causing trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm, and discomfort to two young elephants who sustained cuts and abrasions when they ran amok in an arena in Puerto Rico; improper handling of dangerous animals; and an enclosure in disrepair; and

WHEREAS, no agency monitors training sessions, in which animals may be beaten behind the scenes. Most state and local agencies defer to the already overburdened USDA for matters concerning exotic animals in circuses. The federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) has no regulations that specifically pertain to elephants; and

WHEREAS, of the approximately 62 elephants owned by Ringling in 1990, 57 were captured in the wild. And at least 24 elephants have died since 1992; and

WHEREAS, in nature, elephants don’t stand on their heads, walk trunk-to-tail, skip, crawl, or twirl, and adult female elephants do not mount one another. Tigers don’t hop on their hind legs and roll over in unison. In order to force wild animals to perform difficult and confusing circus tricks, trainers use whips, sticks, and bullhooks.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Albany Common Council recognizes that abuse of animals is not acceptable and calls for any circus that comes to the City of Albany to stop using exotic animals for the purpose of entertainment.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be delivered to the management of Times Union Arena, Albany County Executive, and management of Feld Entertainment, the owners of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey.

(Council Member Konev made a motion to suspend the rules to allow for Resolution 53.51.10R to be discharged from committee, which was not seconded and the motion failed.)

(Council Member Conti asked and received majority consent to add Resolution Number 54.51.10R to the pending agenda, which was approved by unanimous voice vote.)