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Lawmakers in Oakland, California, are considering a ban on bull hooks, a move that would prevent Ringling Bros. from bringing its circus elephants to that city. Bull hooks are weapons used to inflict pain on elephants in order to keep them submissive and obedient.

Four of eight Council Members in Oakland are poised to vote in favor of outlawing bull hooks. One member told the press, “We’re not going to look the other way when it comes to torturing animals.”

Circus elephants are tied down & assaulted with bull hooks at a young age

A spokesperson for Ringling, who describes bull hooks as “USDA-approved husbandry tools,” says that the circus cannot have elephants without them and will not come to Oakland at all if they cannot bring elephants, feeding into the concerns expressed by some Council Members about the economic impact of a ban.

Fear of bull hooks keeps elephants submissive (Photo: Amy Meyer)

In 2013, the Los Angeles City Council passed a law banning bull hooks that takes effect in 2017.  The lawmakers made their decision after viewing PETA’s undercover footage of Ringling trainers attacking elephants with bull hooks.

In addition to being beaten, elephants and other wild animals forced to perform in circuses, are deprived of the chance to do anything that comes naturally to them and are forced to travel in small boxcars on trains for days at a time while traveling between cities.

Photo: PETA

The use of elephants in circuses has already been banned in Bolivia, Peru, Slovenia, Cyprus, Greece, Paraguay, Columbia, the Netherlands. A ban in the United Kingdom goes into effect in 2015.

If you live in Oakland or in San Francisco area, please see In Defense of Animal’s Action Center.

If you live elsewhere, please see five ways you can help end the use of animals in circuses.

Ringling Bros.

As a stockholder in Groupon and Amazon, PETA has employed “shareholder activism” to pressure these and other companies to “stop promoting companies [like circuses and zoos] that abuse and neglect animals” While Groupon has rejected these efforts, describing itself as “content neutral,” Amazon is remaining flexible. In response to accusations of “bullying” by the right-wing National Center for Public Policy Research, PETA says that it is merely pressuring Groupon to “stick to its own policy of not promoting animal exhibitors that have violated the Animal Welfare Act in the past two years.” PETA has filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint, claiming that Groupon is lying to its customers.”

Photo Credit: Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune

Animals used in circuses, like elephants and big cats, are deprived of the chance to do anything that comes naturally to them and are beaten into submission in order to perform. In addition, they are forced to travel in small boxcars on trains for days at a time traveling between cities. By buying small amounts of stock in companies like Groupon that partner with circuses, PETA can use its seat at the table to expose the cruelty and attempt to end the partnerships. If you’re not in a position to buy stock and cause a stir at shareholder meetings, then join your local animal rights group(s) to protest the circus when it comes to your town. To learn more about animal cruelty in circuses, please visit PETA’s circus webite, Ringling Beats Animals.

Ringling Bros. has gone to court requesting that three animal rights groups that unsuccessfully sued them should pay the $25 million in legal fees the company alleges to have spent defending themselves. According to the National Law Journal, “the fee request is one of the largest ever” in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. Lawyers for the Fund for Animals, Animal Welfare Trust and Born Free USA “accused Feld’s legal team of inflating bills, failing to ‘exercise sound billing judgment,’ and overstaffing.”

Ringling Bros

Through the use of weapons, Ringling Bros. terrifies wild animals into submission; we cannot allow them to use lawsuits and other forms of intimidation to scare us too. If litigation against the circus isn’t successful, then we must continue to push for legislation that would ban the use of wild animals in circuses to and to protest them at every stop, educating customers about why using animals in circuses is inhumane On March 21st, One Green Planet published an article on 5 ways you can help end the use of animals in circuses.

Los Angeles became the first city in the United States to ban bullhooks, tools used by elephant trainers in traveling circuses to “keep elephants under control.” According to the L.A. Times, “voting unanimously, the City Council asked the city attorney’s office to prepare an ordinance outlawing the use of the bullhook. Baseball bats, ax handles, pitchforks and other implements used on the pachyderms would also be banned.” Some activists are angry that the Council” agreed to give circuses three years to either change how they handle elephants or remove them from shows altogether.” Because elephants cannot be controlled without bullhooks, a ban on their use is really a ban on the use of elephants. According to One Green Planet, circuses that use elephants have already been banned in Bolivia, Peru, Slovenia, Cyprus, Greece, Paraguay, Columbia, the Netherlands. A ban in the U.K. goes into effect in 2015.

Circus Elephant Trainer with bullhook

Bullhooks are weapons used by “trainers” to scare captive elephants into submission. Their use is one of many reasons why elephants and other wild animals should not be used in circuses. If you support a ban on circus animals, then please see this article published by One Green Planet on ways you can help.