A New Jersey Senate committee has referred to the full body a bill that would ban circuses from using elephant acts. By a 3-2 vote of the Senate Economic Growth Committee, the bill known as “Nosey’s Law” after an elephant in a circus, cleared the first hurdle. Brian Hackett, New Jersey state director for the Humane Society of the United States, told The Record two other states, California and Rhode Island, ban use of bull hooks as a tool to move elephants. No other state has banned the use of the animal in circus acts. Sen. Ray Lesniak, the committee chairman who authored the bill, said he hopes other states will follow New jersey’s lead.
In 2014, New Jersey became the first state in the U.S. to pass a comprehensive ban on the commercial domestic sale of ivory and rhino horn. Later, President Obama’s administration enacted a “near total” ivory and rhino horn import and export sales and interstate commerce ban and credited New Jersey and state-by-state efforts for driving these changes to federal rules. Many airlines have banned trophy animals from their cargo holds.
Several organizations are dedicated to taking in elephants that worked in circuses or zoos, such as http://www.elephants.com in Tennessee.
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.