THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            82
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION
  REQUESTING THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE TO WORK WITH INTERESTED
    GROUPS TO PREVENT THE ABUSIVE AND EXPLOITIVE TREATMENT OF
    LIVE EXOTIC ANIMALS IN TRAVELING EXHIBITS.
 


 1        WHEREAS, on August 20, 1994, while performing at the Neal
 2   Blaisdell Center, Tyke--an African elephant--crushed her
 3   trainer and injured fifteen other persons, then escaped into
 4   the streets of downtown Honolulu.  Over the next hour, police
 5   officers fired eighty-seven bullets into Tyke's body without
 6   observable effect as she charged wildly after pedestrians and
 7   angrily smashed vehicles throughout several city blocks.  Tyke
 8   finally collapsed and died of her massive wounds before a
 9   shocked crowd of police officers, television cameras, and
10   onlookers; and
11   
12        WHEREAS, later--as a crane removed her bullet-ridden
13   body--counseling was given to police officers involved in the
14   shooting, children who witnessed the violent death of Tyke's
15   trainer, and onlookers and television viewers who witnessed
16   Tyke's slow and painful death.  Tyke's death was made even more
17   horrible and despicable because circus officials, zoo
18   veterinarians, and police officers were not properly equipped
19   and trained to effectively and mercifully kill a rampaging
20   African elephant despite the fact that these animals are known
21   to be unpredictable; and
22   
23        WHEREAS, the public display of traveling live exotic
24   animals is inherently dangerous to the public, monetarily risky
25   for the State, as well as stressful for, and abusive to, the
26   animals.  Seemingly tame animals used in public displays can
27   become uncontrollable and dangerous to people, property, and
28   themselves when subjected to the stresses of traveling on
29   public display for long hours.  The animals are frequently
30   subjected to physical abuse and inhumane conditions, furthering
31   the potential for them to act in unexpected, unpredictable, and
32   dangerous ways; and
33   
34        WHEREAS, traveling exhibits involving the public display
35   of live exotic animals need to be closely monitored and
36   inspected by state and county officials for evidence of abusive

 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            82
                                                        
                                                        


 1   or exploitive treatment by exhibit operators and animal
 2   handlers, and for evidence of unexpected, unpredictable, and
 3   dangerous behavior by the animals.  State and county officials
 4   must be vigilant when live exotic animals are displayed in
 5   public since these are--and will forever be--wild animals,
 6   despite the fact that many of them were born and reared in
 7   captivity; now, therefore,
 8   
 9        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
10   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, the House of
11   Representatives concurring, that the Board of Agriculture, in
12   consultation with county animal control officers, Animal Rights
13   Hawaii, the Hawaiian Humane Society, and other interested
14   groups, is requested to develop protocols to prevent the
15   abusive and exploitive treatment of live exotic animals in
16   traveling exhibits; and
17   
18        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
19   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the
20   Board of Agriculture, the Mayors of Kauai, Honolulu, Maui, and
21   Hawaii, the President of the Hawaiian Humane Society, and the
22   President of Animal Rights Hawaii.
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26                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________