Circus officials complained Thursday that a proposal to ban wild and exotic animals at entertainment events was over the top — and said the Greatest Show on Earth wouldn’t comply.
Instead, the officials said at a City Hall hearing that the Big Top would bypass the city.
“If this bill passes, Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey will not come back to New York, period,” said Stephen Payne, spokesman for the circus’s parent company, Feld Entertainment. “We have no plans at this time to remove any other animals from our show.”
Elephants got the hook in May.
The hearing drew more than 100 people and pitted animal rights groups against union members and circus reps.
Even school kids got into the act.
Six-year-old Charlotte Moore of the Lower East Side told legislators that some animals just don’t belong in circuses.
“I really want to get rid of them,” she said. “They treat them badly and they have to be without their families.”
Councilwoman Rosie Mendez (D-Manhattan), the sponsor of the ban bill, and Councilman Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan), chairman of the Health Committee, were firmly in Moore’s camp.
“Keeping exotic animals in captivity, transporting them around the country and requiring them to perform tricks night after night for human amusement, in my view, is inherently inhumane,” Johnson said.
Payne countered that Johnson and Mendez orchestrated the hearing like an “inquisition” and called it a “kangaroo court.”
Unions leaders — including 32BJ SEIU, which endorsed Mayor de Blasio in his 2013 bid for City Hall — also voiced concerns, suggesting the bill would kill jobs at city arenas.
But the mayor signaled he’s prepared to support it.
“It is inappropriate for the wild and exotic animals covered by this bill to be forced to perform for entertainment,” said Jeff Dupee, de Blasio’s senior community liaison.
But the administration did ask the Council to add an exception so the Parks Department could continue educational programs with rehabilitated animals such as foxes, porcupines and hawks.
De Blasio suffered a setback with animal rights advocates in February when a proposal to outlaw horse-drawn carriages was killed, despite his campaign promise to get rid of them.