During its September 12th meeting the Whitemarsh Board of Supervisors will consider adopting an ordinance that is meant to “protect the public from hazards associated with traveling wild or exotic animal displays and to protect wild and exotic animals from cruel and inhumane treatment.” You can download the proposed ordinance here.

Our reading of the ordinance is that it targets circuses, but not rodeos. For example, the ordinance specifically mentions animals that perform in circuses such as elephants and bears but doesn’t mention bulls (in the bulleted list). The ordinance also excludes “livestock” from the definition of what is a wild and exotic animal. Bovine is only found within the definition of livestock.

However, some of the activities listed under the definition of “display” could be taken as applying to a rodeo.

The ordinance either purposely exclude rodeos, or it’s poorly written.

MoreThanTheCurve.com got wind of this when there was a Letter to the Editor on August 25th on MontgomeryNews.com.

In Whitemarsh, the only circus and rodeo we can think of are the annual events that happen at Lulu Shriners on Butler Pike in Plymouth Meeting. We reached out to the organization for comment after we saw the Letter to the Editor, but did not receive a response back.

The circus and the rodeo both regularly attract protestors when the shows are held.

More to come.