Proposed Amendment Threatens to Derail Animal Protection Amendment

The Animal Protection Amendment will prohibit wild animal circuses in Minneapolis. It will end Minneapolis’ endorsement of this cruel and archaic form of entertainment.

With only two weeks left before the public hearing on the Animal Protection Amendment (Wed, Sept 12, at 1pm), another circus amendment that directly threatens the protection of animals from inhumane conditions in the circus has been proposed by:

Council Member Paul Ostrow
Phone: (612) 673-2201

Council Member Betsy Hodges
Phone: (612) 673-2213

The Ostrow- Hodges Amendment proposes regulation of wild animal circuses that ignores the root problems in all animal circuses: intense confinement, endless travel, and abusive training and control techniques. These are not only forms of animal cruelty; they are the cause of the psychological and physical distress that ultimately render circus animals mentally unstable and a threat to public safety.

Increased regulations that ignore the root problems give the thousands of Minneapolitans who care deeply about this issue the impression that city officials are taking the problems with wild animal circuses seriously. In reality, the Ostrow-Hodges Amendment would do nothing but allow circuses to continue operations in Minneapolis as they always have, while giving the public a false sense of security.

Please call Council Members Ostrow and Hodges today. Let them know that regulations that do not address the root problems in animal circuses are unacceptable.

Ostrow-Hodges Amendment