The Greater Valley Glen Council voted to support a Humanitarian Art Ordinance and has forwarded letters to the Los Angeles City Council and to Sacramento legislators with hopes they will implement this ordinance. Below is a letter sent to an LA City Councilmember.
Dear Honorable Councilmember,
The Greater Valley Glen Council encourages you to create a
Humanitarian Art Ordinance for the city of Los Angeles, making it illegal to abuse or
kill animals for the sake of art. A sample ordinance is enclosed for your
review.
The San Francisco Art Institute recently planned to display
an artist’s short film which depicted horses and other animals being bludgeoned
to death; protests and negative press forced them to cancel the exhibit. A
Costa Rican artist starved a dog to death as “art.” A recent art project in Florida involved dipping
live mice into resin, then cutting them into cubes. A domestic cat was skinned
alive for a project at the Toronto Film Festival. Two years ago in Los Angeles, an elephant
was spray painted to look like wallpaper for an exhibit; LA Animal Services had
to go to the exhibit and order the unsafe paint to be removed.
We are opposed to this disturbing trend in the art world and
hope you will make it clear that Los
Angeles’ art exhibits and projects are
compassionate.
This is the sample ordinance for the city:
The
Humanitarian Art Ordinance makes the commission of animal abuse for the
purposes of creating media or an exhibit illegal and punishable as a
misdemeanor or felony and says The City will not Commission such Exhibits.
Resolution
approving the “Humanitarian Art” Ordinance would make the commission of the
crime of Animal Abuse for the purposes of creating media or a display in the
City of Los Angeles illegal and punishable as a misdemeanor or felony, and the City will not
Commission such Exhibits.
WHEREAS, The City of Los Angeles
recognizes and approves of the American Humane Association’s “Guidelines for
the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media” wherein the basic principles declare
that: ·
Animals are not props! · No
animal will be killed or injured for the sake of a film production and American Humane Association will not allow
any animal to be treated inhumanely to elicit a performance; and
WHEREAS, The City of Los Angeles holds
that the production of media that the director or the producer of the media is
the direct cause of animal abuse to be captured on media supports an
unacceptable industry of animal abuse; and,
WHEREAS, “Animal Abuse” includes
the violation of Los Angles Ordinances, State, Federal and international laws
pertaining to animal abuse, the interest of animal welfare and animal cruelty
laws specifically framed for the prevention of inhumane treatment of animals,
including, but not limited to California Penal Code Sections 596, 596.5, 596.7,
597, 597.1, 597.3, 597a through x, 598, 598 a through d, 599 et al, 600, 623,
374d, 384h, 399, 399.5 and Federal laws 7
USC § 1901 – 1907, and 7 U.S.C.
§ 2131 et seq; and,
WHEREAS, “Caused or created or
contributed to” shall mean that the defendant was responsible for causing the
animal to be abused as defined above. A
person is responsible for creating or causing the abuse of the animal if the
animal would not have been abused in the way that the animal was captured on
film “but for” the actions, production and direction of the defendant; and.
WHEREAS, “Exhibit” shall mean a
display, presentation, show, film, media and/or screening of Animal Abuse; and.
WHEREAS, nothing in this chapter shall prohibit any person from capturing the Animal Abuse when the individual is not the cause of the death of animals and are not responsible for aiding or abetting in the crime of animal abuse that occurred; and,
WHEREAS, there is a government
interest in protecting animals from unnecessary cruelty and not funding or
commissioning animal cruelty to occur; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Los Angeles hereby acknowledges that this law
is necessary to prevent further animal cruelty; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Humane Art Ordinance
will make the commission of the crime of Animal Abuse for the purposes of
creating media to now be illegal, punishable as a misdemeanor or felony; and,
be it FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City of Los Angeles will not
Commission or sponsor Exhibits wherein the creator of the media caused the
crime of Animal Abuse to occur; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the
ordinance would be drafted as a two pronged test for the actual director. The necessary elements of the crime are (a)
Animal Abuse as defined under Los Angeles local ordinances, state, federal or
international law must have taken place, (b) The defendant would have caused or
created or contributed to the crime of Animal Abuse to take place for the purposes
of his or her creation of the media or exhibit.
Thank you. If you have any questions, I can be reached at
(818) 346-5280.
Sincerely,
Charlotte Laws
Chair - Government Relations Committe
Greater Valley Glen Council
