The ordinance expressly recognizes that elephants possess the right to liberty, prohibits any person from preventing elephants from exercising their right to liberty, and details how the law will be enforced and the penalty for violating it.
EVAN SYMON: The Ojai City Council voted 4-1… to recognize the legal rights of elephants, becoming the first city in the United States to give legal rights to a non-human animal… City Councilwoman Leslie Rule first proposed the ordinance earlier this year. Specifically, she wrote the ordinance due to how elephants in Ojai were once made to do circus tricks and were later moved to a large elephant sanctuary. The ordinance argued that elephants are cognitively, emotionally and socially complex like humans, and deserve liberty to lead healthy lives.
“This ordinance will codify for Ojai an elephant’s fundamental right to bodily liberty, which just simply means that you cannot hold an elephant captive in Ojai unless the space is comparable to an accredited sanctuary,” said Rule. “What we can do is we can show, by passing this ordinance, that we are part of a society that sees the changes happening around our understanding of the emotional and psychological and physical complexity of these large, sentient beings that are being held captive in zoos. “It isn’t a joke. We can do some real good here, as well as being on the right side of history. Let’s encourage society to evolve its basic understanding of its relationship to all nonhuman entities”…
While the ordinance was passed, many have questioned just how far the ordinance can go… “You know that the law you are trying to push isn’t good when you repeatedly have to say ‘This isn’t a joke’ to the press,” said Justin Barker, a political analyst who focuses on animal and wildlife-related laws. “I mean, you’re giving rights to elephants in one small city in California. It will be tough to give a physical challenge to the law. I mean, whenever these weird wildlife laws are passed, people who are mad challenge them in weird ways. In the early 90’s, there was a big controversy protecting spotted owls at the expense of loggers in the Pacific Northwest. Loggers responded in borderline legal ways getting around the law before directly bringing it front and center by doing things like physically moving the birds. SOURCE…
PRESS RELEASE FROM NON-HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT (NHRP):
The Ojai City Council made legal history by becoming the first city in the US to recognize the legal right of a nonhuman animal. Introduced by Council Member Leslie Rule and developed with and supported by the Nonhuman Rights Project, the ordinance defines and protects elephants’ right to liberty.
In the early 1980s, an elephant named Tarra was held in captivity in Ojai Valley and used for entertainment, including in an act where she was made to rollerskate. In 1995, Tarra became the first resident of what is now the largest elephant sanctuary in the US. Under this ordinance, which passed by a vote of 4-1, it is now illegal in Ojai to subject an elephant to the lack of freedom Tarra endured.
The ordinance expressly recognizes that elephants possess the right to liberty, prohibits any person from preventing elephants from exercising their right to liberty, and details how the law will be enforced and the penalty for violating it.
This legislation is historic. It’s indisputable that elephants suffer when deprived of their freedom and that animal welfare laws can’t end their suffering. For elephants and the nonhuman animal rights movement, we are proud to support this first-of-its-kind ordinance, and we commend the Ojai City Council for standing up for what is necessary and just.
In the years to come, we expect this will be the first of many such laws: introduced by elected officials who understand that a sustainable and just future for all life on earth means extending compassion to and establishing legal rights for nonhuman animals. In legislatures, in courtrooms, and beyond, that’s what this movement is about. SOURCE…
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