Monday, October 15, 2012

C  I  T  Y    O  F    A  T  L  A  N  T  A

Atlanta City Council Member Felicia Moore will join BAN the Bullhook and Animal rights activists at the Atlanta Pride Festival on Sunday

ATLANTA – Atlanta City Council Member Felicia Moore will join BAN the Bullhook and Animal rights activists at the Atlanta Pride Festival on Sunday October 14, 2012 at Piedmont Park.

Organizers will have their mobile billboard unit along with elephant mascots and animal rights supporters in and around the park, gathering additional signatures petitioning the Atlanta City Council to implement a total bullhook ban.

The mobile billboard will circle Piedmont Park before and after the parade.  

In June the City Council voted to prevent the use of bullhooks but only when it can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that they were used in a specific instance to "discipline" an elephant and that the elephant's skin was broken, scarred, or otherwise damaged as a result.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said Atlanta’s revised animal protection ordinance is a step backward from Fulton County's outright ban on the use of bullhooks.

“This ordinance will not protect elephants because enforcing it would require that someone not only be there to witness the abuse, but be close enough to see the actual damage to the elephant's skin,” according to PETA’s official blog site. “The bullhook would have to break the skin, something a blunt object which causes pain does not always do…. And, broken bones and forming bruises can't always be seen with the naked eye. Only a ban on the use of bullhooks can protect elephants from bullhook abuse.”

For more information on Sunday’s petition drive call the Office of City Council Member Felicia Moore at 404-330-6044 or Anna Ware at 404-483-4833.