ELECTRIC goads will continue to be used at Blackpool Zoo after a motion to ban them was defeated by councillors amid scenes of uproar at the Town Hall.

In what one councillor described as a "sad, sad day for the town", Blackpool Council voted to allow the zoo to continue using electric goads to control elephants on Wednesday (February 23).

Before the meeting protestors (pictured) gathered on the steps of Blackpool Town Hall.

Cries of "disgraceful" and "liars" hailed down from the public gallery, packed with members of the Captive Animals Protection Society, as Labour councillors claimed the goads would protect zoo staff and the public.

A second motion that zoo staff be allowed to use goads as "an appropriate level of protection" was passed by 23 votes to 13.

This is despite a series of damning reports from leading animal experts, including the RSPCA, claiming the goads not only offer no real protection but could also turn the animals into killers.

A report by RSPCA Head of Wildlife Dr R.P.D. Atkinson, submitted to the council, states: "There is reason to believe that an electric shock may on occasion increase the danger to staff from an elephant," a conclusion which is echoed in other reports. As the Citizen has already revealed, there was also video evidence shot by undercover animal rights activists, implicating the zoo's temporary American elephant trainer, Scott Riddle, in using the devices to teach the elephants "circus type" tricks.

Tory leader Coun Peter Callow who tabled the motion to outlaw the goads and also for the elephants to be re-homed in a sanctuary, said: "This is a sad, sad day for Blackpool,"

"I don't actually want to close the zoo myself. I just want them to clean up their act, get a new manager and to have an independent inquiry.

"The zoo have told lie after lie, even writing to MPs to tell them that they had never used the goads before admitting that they had."

He also said that sources inside the zoo had told him that they were ordered by zoo management to use the electric goads to control ostriches.

Zoo manager Iain Valentine said after the meeting: "Just in the way the staff have been trained in how to manage elephants, they are trained on how to control other animals.

"This could involve the use of the cattle prods."

CAPS member Josephine Harwood said: "It's disgraceful and the councillors know this.

"This is the kind of animal abuse that goes on behind closed doors and it should be stopped."

A survey conducted by The Citizen last month resulted in 360 readers voting against the use of the goads with only five being in favour.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.