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The circus -- still -- is coming to town
City Council rejects 'exotic animal' ban
Tuesday, February 15, 2000
By KERY MURAKAMI
After an emotional debate that drew tears from animal rights activists, the Seattle City Council decided yesterday that the circus would return, and with it, elephants, bears and tigers.
The debate had all the elements of a political circus: thousands of
e-mails; stories of rampaging elephants; and threats by Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
If the council approved the ban, Feld Entertainment said, Seattle would never again see the Greatest Show on Earth and other events, such as Disney on Ice.
In the end, council members said the question came down to one question: Is it right for humans to make animals travel around the country, instead of allowing them to live in the wild?
"I don't believe animals should be used for our entertainment," said Councilwoman Judy Nicastro, a co-sponsor of the ban. "I love the circus. I love the clowns and the trapeze artists. I want them to come. I don't want the animals to come here."
Before casting the deciding vote against the ban, Councilman Peter Steinbrueck said: "How we treat animals is a reflection on our humanity."
But he said he was uncomfortable with doing away with the circus and didn't think the general public had reached a consensus on the issue.
"A ban is a slippery slope," he said. "There ought to be good justification for it. It ought to be something the public understands."
Councilwoman Jan Drago said losing the circus would have meant losing about half the family-style events planned this year for KeyArena.
Although Drago was convinced there was a problem, she pointed out that there had been no accidents involving circus animals in Seattle.
Others countered that circus elephants would one day cause trouble in Seattle as well.
Ultimately, though, proponents said a city that prides itself on being environmentally conscious should take a philosophical stand.
"It breaks my heart that Seattle is not taking the lead," Nicastro said.
Besides Steinbrueck and Drago, council members Margaret Pageler, Richard McIver and Jim Compton voted against the ban.
The debate was a bruising one for some council members. Members of the progressive Green Party, of which Steinbrueck is a member, heavily supported the ban and were upset that Steinbrueck voted against them.
"The whole reason I joined the Green Party was that they were very environmentally and socially aware," said Diane Venberg, a Green Party member and coordinator of the ban campaign for the Progressive Animal Welfare Society.
"I'm disappointed he does not share those philosophies," she said.
Wills, who was seen as an establishment candidate during last year's elections, surprised progressives by pushing the ban. But she upset other council members when she questioned Councilman Compton's ethics two weeks ago.
Compton had promised to give Wills a fifth and deciding vote to pass the ban. But when he reconsidered, Wills said publicly that a council member is only as good as his word, implying that his was not so good.
Yesterday, Wills said, "I acknowledge I brought the hardball tactics of the county to City Hall. But I'm not a go-along-to-get-along kind of gal. I'm here to advocate for the public, not to protect the status quo."
Yesterday's vote came the same day that city supervisors in San Francisco postponed a vote on whether to outlaw calf roping and steer wrestling.
That ordinance would bar all events that are inhumane to animals and would require that a qualified veterinarian be present at all rodeos.
Animal rights activists had hoped a ban by Seattle would set off a domino effect that would leave traditional circuses with nowhere to
go.
Feld Entertainment worried a victory in Seattle would "embolden" animal rights activists to try the ban elsewhere.
"Once people got beyond the emotional rhetoric and looked at the facts, they realized that this ordinance was driven by ideology," said Joan Galvin, vice president of Feld Entertainment.
Yesterday, Venberg, of the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, said she did not know what the group would do next.
In a statement, Seattle Mayor Paul Schell, who originally proposed the ban, said he, too, was disappointed with the council's decision.
"I continue to believe a ban would have been the right thing. Nevertheless, I think the debate we've had over the past several weeks has been good and raised people's awareness of the issue of how we care for animals."
P-I reporter Kery Murakami can be reached at 206-448-8029 or kerymurakami@seattle-pi.com
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
By a 5-4 vote, council members narrowly voted down a proposal to ban "exotic animals" from performing in KeyArena and at other city-owned venues.
Stephanie Jones, left, who works at the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, was dismayed last night at the Seattle City Council's decision against the "exotic animal" ban. Behind her is Nancy Pennington from Citizens for a Cruelty-Free Environment.
Meryl Schenker/P-I
Council members Nicastro, Heidi Wills, Nick Licata and Richard Conlin voted for the ban.
Seattle Councilwoman Heidi Wills speaks for the "exotic animal" ban last night.
Meryl Schenker/P-I
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