RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — A Virginia legislative committee passed a bill on Wednesday that would ban the use of bullhooks, heavy steel-tipped training tools, on elephants.
Delegate Kathy Tran, a Democrat, introduced House Bill 1531, under which any person who uses a bullhook would be subject to a civil penalty of up to $2,500 for the first offense and up to $5,000 for subsequent violations.
"The bullhook is used to control elephants by making them fear anyone with a weapon," Tran told a subcommittee in January.
The bill passed the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Thursday on a 14-6 vote, with only Republicans in opposition. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, headquartered in nearby Norfolk, Virginia, lobbied strongly for the bill.
Lauryn Murray, a second-generation elephant trainer and circus aerialist based in Florida, was the only person to speak in opposition to the bill in a subcommittee meeting on Jan. 31.
"This is not a pain-inflicting training tool," Murray told the legislators. "It is just a training tool it is never made to puncture or penetrate."
The bill comes two months after Virginia's attorney general's office seized nearly 100 animals, some deceased, from the Natural Bridge Zoo in Rockbridge.
The unaccredited zoo was home to Asha, a female elephant that spent almost 40 years giving rides to guests. A confidential informant who spent months undercover as a groundskeeper found Asha sleeping in her own urine and witnessed her handler jabbing her with a bullhook on multiple occasions.
The zoo's owners sent Asha to Two Tails Ranch, a roadside zoo operated by the Zerbini family, which also operates Tarzan Zerbini Circus, shortly before authorities executed the search warrant. According to PETA, handlers with Two Tails Ranch use bullhooks, and the elephants are used for rides and photo opportunities when not traveling for the circus.
"That zoo was infamous for its use of bullhooks on their elephant Asha," Tran said. "We want to make sure that any captive elephant in Virginia here while traveling for a circus or if Asha returns is not subject to a bullhook."
Elephants are notorious for their thick skin, as thick as 2.5 centimeters in most spots, with folds and wrinkles that hold water to cool the elephant. However, According to Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation & Development (HERD) Elephant Orphanage South Africa, some parts of elephants' skin, namely around their mouths and eyes, behind their ears, inside their trunks and in tender spots around their chin and feet, are sensitive enough to feel an insect bite.
"The skin of baby elephant calves is much thinner than that of adult elephants," Tran said. "That's at the age in which elephants are broken by striking fear into them with the bullhook."
Groups including the Virginia Animal Control Association, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies and Virginia Medical Veterinary Association joined PETA in voicing support for the bill during public testimonies. Republicans who voted against the bill did not respond to requests for comment.
Pushes for the banning of bullhooks spur from whistleblower Sammy Haddock. Haddock worked at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida, where he trained calves to become circus elephants.
"Raising a baby elephant at Ringling is like raising a kid in jail," Haddock wrote.
In a 15-page notarized declaration penned in 2009, Haddock writes that he had made a promise to his dying wife, an animal lover who Haddock claims never liked what the elephants went through at the circus, especially the baby elephants or that he was a part of it, that he would do the right thing. After her passing, Haddock reached out to PETA with photos he took at work and stories from his personal experience outlining the training process for calves.
"Babies are typically pulled from their mothers around 18-24 months of age," Haddock writes. "Once they're pulled from their mothers, they've tasted their last bit of freedom and the relationship with their mother ends."
Wild elephants are matriarchal and live in complex social structures of females and calves, while male elephants live in isolation or small bachelor groups, according to the World Wildlife Foundation. Female calves often stay with their maternal herd for the rest of their lives, while males leave the herd as they reach puberty.
"The baby tries to run away and fights having the ropes put on," Haddock wrote about removing the calves. "Some mothers scream more than others while watching their babies being roped. If the screaming matches continue after the baby has been moved, we might take the mothers outdoors to quiet them down."
Handlers restrain calves for over 23 hours a day during the first training period, Haddock said. Handlers then take the calves to the ring, where handlers train them to lie down, sit up, down-salute and spindle — where two to three handlers make the elephant turn while one foot is on a spindle.
According to Haddock, loud rock-and-roll music is played to drown out the babies' screaming and to get them used to the music played in the circus.
"Based on my experience, these violent training methods are the only way an elephant can be trained to perform certain tricks required for a circus act," Haddock wrote. "It's bunk when the circus says that it's showcasing an elephant's natural behaviors."
PETA and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums prefer protected contact, a handling technique that involves no human-to-animal contact and emphasizes positive reinforcement, allowing elephants to express natural behaviors.
California and Rhode Island passed state laws banning bullhooks, and Richmond's city council banned the practice within city limits in 2018.
The bill awaits a House of Delegates floor vote where, should it pass, it would be sent to the state Senate for approval before reaching Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin's desk.
"It really has no place in animal training and in the commonwealth," senior vice president of PETA's cruelty investigation department Daphna Nachminovitch said in an interview. "So I'm really encouraged that it passed committee, obviously, and we look forward to seeing it pass the floor."
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