Fulton County Bans Bullhooks

June 2011

After years of hard campaigning by local activists and PETA, Fulton County—the most populous municipality in Georgia—passed a new ordinance that bans the use of bullhooks and other devices used to inflict pain on elephants. Circuses use bullhooks (sharp, metal-tipped devices) to force elephants to perform unnatural tricks by digging into the animals’ sensitive skin, beating them into submission, and, while crowds watch, keeping them under the constant fear of punishment. Because of this landmark ordinance, elephants will never again bear the blow of a bullhook while in Fulton County.