Howie Responsible for First State to Ban Circuses

Yesterday Nosey’s Law was signed into law in New Jersey and NJ Senator Raymond Lesniak, Jr. wrote Bill Nimmo and Kizmin Reeves, of Tigers in America to say:

 

From: Raymond Lesniak To: William Nimmo 

Sent: Friday, December 14, 2018 4:45 PM Subject: Re: NJ Nosey's Bill signed into law- RAY

 

You got me started on animal welfare 😘

 

Bill Nimmo then wrote Howie and said, 

 

Howard,   It was actually your phone call to me that caused me to go visit Ray.  Advocacy does work.

It’s a good day for tigers  -Bill

 

I don’t have the original exchange between Howie and Bill about Senator Lesniak, but on November 23, 2011 Howie wrote our friends at Born Free and this was part of the letter:

 

“Meantime, we have been in touch with the individual who was the motivating force behind Sen. Lesniak introducing the bill.  From what he tells us, the Committee Hearing is Dec. 1 and the key thing is getting it out of Committee.  Once out, there is a lot of confidence it will pass.

 

What the Senator has asked is whether we could generate emails to the Senate Economic Growth Committee  members only from NJ residents.  We will be sending an email alert to our supporters in NJ on Tuesday 29th asking them to email the Committee members in support.  The names and email addresses are below.”

 

So it was prior to 11/23/11 that Howie had asked Bill to contact the Senator about a NJ state bill we were working on at the time to track captive bred tigers.  

 

HSUS reported:  New Jersey becomes first state to adopt a sweeping ban on wild animals in circuses.  New Jersey has made history by becoming the first state in the country to ban the use of numerous wild animal species, including elephants, tigers, lions, bears and primates, in circuses and traveling shows.

 

Governor Phil Murphy today signed into law a measure that recognizes both the animal welfare concerns and the public safety dangers posed by such shows. The bill passed the state Senate unanimously in June, and the General Assembly in October.

 

To date, four states and close to 150 localities across 37 states have passed laws governing the use of wild animals in circuses and traveling shows and many more are in the process of considering legislation. In 2016, California and Rhode Island banned bullhooks, a cruel elephant training tool. In 2017, Illinois and New York banned the use of elephants in traveling shows. In Hawaii, we await the signature of Gov. David Ige on a regulation enacted by the board of agriculture to ban dangerous wild animals, including tigers, lions, bears, primates, elephants and crocodiles, from being brought into the state to perform in circuses, carnivals and other public exhibitions.

 

But New Jersey’s law – named “Nosey’s Law” in honor of an arthritic elephant who last year was seized following an Alabama court order and who now enjoys life at a Tennessee sanctuary — goes a step further by banning virtually all wild animals commonly used by circuses and traveling shows.

 

Globally, too, there’s a trend toward ending wild animal acts in entertainment. Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, the Netherlands and India are among at least 45 countries that have passed laws banning the use of wild animals in circuses. The United Kingdom has pledged to ban the use of wild animals in traveling circuses by 2020.

 

These reforms sweeping the country and the world have been a long time coming. Wild animals used in traveling shows are subjected to prolonged periods of extreme confinement in dark and unventilated trucks and trailers as they are hauled from venue to venue for months at a time. When they are not performing, elephants are chained or confined to small pens and big cats are kept in transport cages that typically measure approximately four feet by seven feet – barely bigger than the animals themselves. The animals are routinely deprived of adequate exercise, veterinary care, or even reg