The L.A. City Council spent more than two years on the effort to ban elephant-abusing bullhooks of the type used in common circuses.

And yesterday, they finally did it. Unanimously. Sort of. We're no fans of animal abuse, but this is yet another example of the council spending a lot of time on stuff that barely affects the day-to-day lives of Angelenos.

The move means that the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will probably stop coming to the city, as it has warned repeatedly. Fine. But the law doesn't go into effect until …
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 … 2017. You read that right.

What's the point? All the staff research and City Attorney lawyer time for a law that will go into effect when half these clowns – not in the circus, but on the council – will be out of office?

As our city has the worst roads in the country, crumbling sidewalks and a high-rent housing crisis, your political leaders were spending your tax dollars working on this.

The hooks are used to train and control elephants. The ban will also apply to use of an “ankus, baseball bat, axe, handle, pitchfork or other implement or tool designed to inflict pain for the purpose of training or controlling the behavior of an elephant,” the ordinance says.

Councilman Mitch O'Farrell was proud:

We're the first major U.S.city to implement a ban and fall in line with other great world class cities, and countries around the world who insist on treating animals better. When we treat animals with more respect, we treat each other with respect.

In 2017.

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