Tag Archives: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

Boycott Ringling!!! … Learn all about elephants HERE! NOW!

ICT contributor Steve Baer – one of the planet’s most passionate animal rights activists! We love you, Steve!!! – did a magnificent job on this elephants-in-circuses cover story.

We repost it today because Ringling is in Worcester this weekend and people need to know THE TRUTH ABOUT RINGLING and CIRCUS ANIMAL SUFFERING.

Most Worcesterites see it our way now – that elephants, big cats and other wild animals do not belong in railroad box cars (no air conditioning in summer, no heat in winter), should not be chained for hours and hours, should not be dressed in tutus, made to jump through burning hoops – physically and emotionally demeaned – at the mercy of bullhooks, whips …

LET US NOW WORK TO RETIRE BIG CATS FROM CIRCUSES!

LET’S MAKE SURE RETIRED RINGLING ELEPHANTS GO TO ACCREDITED ELEPHANT SANCTUARIES!

Here is actor Alec Baldwin teaching us all about the beautiful elephant!

– Rosalie Tirella

Elephants and Circuses

By Steve Baer

In June 2000, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, The Fund for Animals, the Animal Protection Institute, and Tom Rider, a former employee of Ringling Brothers, filed a lawsuit against Ringling Brothers in Federal District court under the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit charges that the circus uses a stick with a sharpened metal hook on the end (called a “bullhook” or “ankus”) to repeatedly beat, pull, push, torment and threaten elephants. This type of aggression should be illegal, and is, but only because the recipients of the beatings were highly endangered Asian Elephants. Other animals in the circus, unfortunately, are not given the same level of protection. The intention of the lawsuit was to immediately stop Ringling’s inhumane mistreatment of animals in the circus.

It wasn’t, however, until October 2006, a year after a September 2005 court order by a Federal District judge who announced that he will incarcerate Ringling’s lawyers and executives if they do not turn over critical veterinary documents that Ringling disclosed their internal veterinary records. The records revealed Ringling Brothers severe abuse of the elephants.“[We] hope the spotlight continues to shine on the use of inhumane chains and bullhooks and Ringling’s cruel behind-the-scenes treatment of elephants,” said Nicole Paquette, G e n e r a l C o u n s e l a n d Director of L e g a l Affairs at the Animal Protection Institute.

“ T h e Court has run out of patience for R i n g l i n g Bro t h e r s ’ s t a l l i n g ploys,” added M i c h a e l Markarian, president of The Fund for A n i m a l s . ” This trial will come not a moment too soon, as R i n g l i n g ’s e l e p h a n t s continue to suffer every day from abusive discipline and prolonged chaining.”

Training

Elephants are not domestic pets. They are wild animals. The same is true of lions, tigers, and bears. To be trained for the circus, an elephant had to have been chained down and had the spirit repeatedly beaten out of him or her by a team of “animal trainers.” The “trainers” use baseball bats, metal pipes, ax handles, metal prods, and sticks. The intention of the “trainers” is to show the elephant who is boss. The elephant, being an emotionally sensitive creature, as well as having a sensitive skin, is known to cry during such sessions. The torment, which doesn’t end for days, leaves behind a mere shell of the former animal. The elephant suffers emotional scars, and often physical scars too.

One “trainer” for a major circus was caught on under cover video saying “You’ve got to make them scream – You’ve got to make them cry!” in reference to how to make an elephant ready for performing in a circus.

According to Henry Ringling North in his book “The Circus Kings,” the big cats are “chained to their pedestals, and ropes are put around their necks to choke them down.” Writes Mr. Ringling North, “They work from fear.” Bears may have their noses broken while being trained to “teach” them to respond to commands, and their paws burned to force them to stand on their hind legs.

Once animals have learned to feel helplessness and have become spiritually drained, they are kept in a state of submission through various mechanisms.

Animals, such as bears, may be forced into tight fitting muzzles so they will remain subdued and discouraged from protecting themselves. The muzzles interfere with vision and respiration. Similarly, tight collars are employed to make animals more manageable. Others have their teeth removed. Chimpanzees and bears reportedly had their teeth knocked out by a hammer. Animals are declawed, defanged, and/or tranquilized to maintain control over them.

Elephants are forced to perform tricks by being hit with the ankus and electric prods. The ankus has a long handle with a sharp metal hook. It is jabbed into the most sensitive parts of an elephant’s body – under the trunk, behind the ears, around the eyes, inside their mouth, behind the knees, and in the genital region. Elephants are kept in fear, so they can be easily controlled by the circus.

Frequently an elephant will sustain an injury while being forced to perform an unnatural movement, such as balancing on two feet on a stool. Undercover investigators as recently as July 2006, have videotaped trainers beating elephants. Ringling’s own “Animal Behaviorist” in a January 2005 e-mail, recounted to Ringling’s General Manager that she saw an elephant named Lutzi “dripping blood all over the arena floor during the show from being hooked” after a handler “hook[ed] Lutzi under the trunk three times and behind the leg once in an attempt to line her up for the Tmount.” (A “T-mount” is a stunt where two elephants and at least one person stand on the back of a kneeling elephant.)

An elephant cannot always carry his or her weight on two legs, so a torn ligament is not uncommon. If the injuries are left untreated, it can be disastrous for the elephant.

Make no mistake about it, the whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bull-hooks, and other enslavement tools used during circus acts and training sessions are reminders to you, and to the animals, that they are being forced to perform. Animals do not naturally ride bicycles, stand on their heads, or jump through rings of fire. In contrast to the exciting public relations hype associated with circuses, animals in the circus live a dismal life of domination, confinement, and violent training.

On The Road

Most circus animals usually live and travel in small, barren transport cages. Their cages are often so small that it is difficult for the animals to turn around. The animals are hauled around the country in poorly ventilated trailers and boxcars for up to 50 weeks a year in all kinds of extreme weather conditions. Animals defecate, urinate, eat, drink and sleep in the same small cramped cages. Access to the basic necessities of food, water, and veterinary care is often inadequate. Tigers and lions who naturally secure a territory of 75 to 2,000 square miles are often forced to live and travel in cages only 4 feet wide by 6 feet long by 5 feet tall.

Circus animals who are not confined to cages may often be chained or tethered almost the whole day. Most circuses routinely chain their elephants, while ungulates such as camels, zebras, and horses are tethered or stalled.

Under sworn testimony to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, witnesses and former circus employees have reported that elephants are normally chained by one front leg and one rear leg. Chains are usually, although not always, long enough to permit the elephant to take a step or two forward or backwards, and to lie down. Elephants are also kept chained in enclosed boxcars where they stand in their own excrement and urine for days unable to move around, smell fresh air, or find intellectual stimulation. Reportedly, circus elephants are confined in this way for 20 or more hours each day. The prolonged standing in wet, unsanitary conditions can lead to physical problems – such as arthritis and life threatening foot problems (foot rot, cracked nails, and infected cuticles) – and psychological problems. In the wild, elephants travel tens of miles each day. The inadequate exercise that elephants enslaved by the circus experience contributes to their decline in health.

In sworn testimony, Tom Rider, a former Ringling Brothers elephant barn-keeper stated, “After three years of working with elephants in the circus, I can tell you that they live in confinement and they are beaten all the time when they don’t perform properly.”

Other former Ringling Brothers employees have spoken out against behind-the-scenes animal cruelty. Former Ringling performer Kelly Tansy commented, “On my very first day with the circus, I witnessed animal cruelty. I saw an elephant being beaten in what appeared to be a disciplinary action. The beating was so severe that the elephant screamed. I have come to realize, through all the circuses that I have worked for, that mistreatment of animals is a standard part of training and is thought to be a ‘necessary’ part of exhibiting them. Additionally, Tansy reports, “I have seen chimps locked in small cages constantly when not performing; elephants chained continuously; and even animals being beaten during performances.”

Animal Psychology

The continual frustration of wild animals who are unable to engage in their instinctive behaviors can lead the animals to some serious psychological problems. Stereotypic actions such as hyper-aggression, apathy, selfmutilation, bar-biting, and pacing are indicative of psychological maladies. Frustrated by the lack of ability to move elephants repeatedly bob their heads and sway back and forth; some repeatedly rattle their chains with their trunks. Both of these actions are signs of neurotic behavior. Animals in the circus are often deprived of food and water to induce them to perform, as well as to prevent untimely defecation while they are in public view.

Even if it was possible to supply circus animals with all their material wants, something vital would still be lacking. What’s lacking is the joy that is associated with simply having the ability to evade being forced to do something.

Under natural conditions, in the wild, elephants have a life span of about 60 years. Elephants are normally migratory, traveling over 4,000 miles a year. Elephants have poor eyesight, but all of their other senses—hearing, smell, taste, and touch—are acute. Their trunk is frequently at work picking up scents of food and danger from the ground and air. Elephants can smell water at great distances and can hear certain sounds more than a mile away. Elephants in the wild dine on a wealth of plant parts—leaves, twigs, bark, shoots, fruit, flowers, roots, tubers, and bulbs.

Female elephants are among the few mammals, including humans, that live beyond their reproductive years. The typical cow will end her reproductive years at around 45 years old. During this post-reproductive period between 45 and 60 plus years, she assists in the care of the young of other elephants.

Elephants display complex, highly social behavior, living in tightly knit families headed by the oldest females. These elephants remain together for life. The family also defends the young, sick, old, and disabled from predators. Elephants are highly emotional individuals. They express joy, pleasure, and compassion, as well as sadness and grief. Wild elephants have been known to celebrate births of new elephants and to grieve and even shed tears over the death of a family member.

It is a shame and a travesty of morality that for the sake our children’s and our own momentary entertainment we encourage so much distress to come to pass on the families and the young of elephants.

What are we teaching children?

Circuses use animals to appeal to children and the child nature in adults. Observing animals at the circus, however, teaches children nothing about the natural behaviors of other species. They may learn about the size, shape and color of the animals, but behavior patterns, social interactions, intelligence, hunting instinct, maternal care giving, food gathering and movement patterns are absent. Instead, children are presented with images of either ferocious or stupid animals, whose seemingly only purpose is to amuse humans. The child unconsciously takes home from the circus the feeling that it is acceptable to exploit another being… animal or human.

Dr. Michael W. Fox, a veterinarian, animal behaviorist, and former professor of psychology reveals that “Parents have told [him] that they do not take their children to the circus where there are performing animals because they know intuitively, empathically, that it is wrong.”

Dr. Fox acknowledges that exposing children to “covert animal cruelty and overt domination, control, and exploitation teaches children that it is culturally acceptable, and the norm, to subjugate other sentient beings [humans included] and make them perform unnatural acts.” According to Dr. Fox, “The child’s nascent capacity to empathize with other living beings is certainly… crippled.” Dr. Fox asserts that “To expose and subject sensitive and impressionable children to the wild animal-abusing circus is child abuse.”

Tuberculosis

Protect yourself. A deadly and highly contagious human strain of tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis or TB) is infecting and killing captive elephants. TB is an airborne disease that spreads through tiny droplets in the air.

According to Dr. John Lewis of the International Zoo Veterinary Group, “[I]f tuberculosis is diagnosed in an elephant there are clear public health implications as the disease can be spread by close contact with infected animals [and] people.” Circuses routinely allow members of the public to feed, pet, and ride elephants.

TB is difficult to identify in elephants. Elephants are too large to be x-rayed, skin tests are unreliable, and trunk wash cultures only indicate whether the elephant has active TB. Circuses may also intentionally mislabel trunk wash specimens from infected animals using a TBnegative animal as the donor. No test can determine if an elephant is harboring a TB infection. Infected elephants may exhibit no symptoms of TB or may suffer from chronic weight loss, diminished appetite, chronic nasal discharge, coughing, and intolerance to exercise.

An extremely thin elephant, Lota, was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1996. A photo taken in May 2001 shows a child petting her at a circus. A few months later, this elephant was taken off the road and again given tuberculosis treatment

Most circuses have been cited by the USDA for failure to comply with TB testing requirements for elephants and handlers. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has determined that USDA veterinary medical officers and animal care inspectors who conduct elephant inspections may be at risk for TB infection.

Contingency Plans

Two police officers, one a fairly regular looking 5-feet 5-inch tall man and the other a very muscular 6-feet 4- inch tall man, were covering a detail at a circus near Worcester. They were asked by a citizen of the town “If one of the [three] elephants rampage what are you prepared to do.” The shorter police officer motions toward the larger police officer and replies, “I’ll hide behind him!” In truth there isn’t much more most people could do. Once a stressed out elephant rebels against a trainer’s physical dominance, the rampage is nearly impossible to stop without lethal force. In the event that an elephant runs amok, circus personnel cannot protect themselves, nor can they protect the general public.

An elephant who went berserk in Florida in 1992 with five children on her back was shot with more than 50 rounds of ammunition before an officer was located who happened to have armor-piercing bullets specially designed by the military to penetrate steel.Would you want your child on the back of an elephant that is being shot at?

In 1994, a stressed out circus elephant name Tyke could not take the abuse any longer. Her deadly rampage lasted an hour in downtown Honolulu. Department-issued semi-automatic pistols were useless. A zoo veterinarian’s lethal injections had no effect. The police finally located a high-powered counter-sniper rifle and fired three rounds into her heart. Tyke died after having been shot 87 times.

Where Are the Regulating Bodies?

The only federal law regulating the treatment of most wild animals in circuses is the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The AWA is inadequate and is inconsistently enforced. Circuses that do not comply with the Act are often given several opportunities to remedy violations. The USDA, itself determined that they “cannot ensure the humane care and treatment of animals as required by the AWA.”

According to Dr. Peggy Larson, a former USDA inspector and a veterinarian, “Circus animals are poorly inspected under the USDA Animal Welfare Act.” Dr. Larson stated that USDA veterinarians, who concern themselves primarily with housing and husbandry, do not know how to diagnose diseases in wild animals. And since neither a large animal practitioner nor a small animal veterinarian is equipped to handle elephants or big cats, circus animals are often not treated when they need care. Dr. Larson concluded, “USDA compliance is at best hopelessly ineffective.”

It can not be overstated that the vigilance and help of the public is essential when it comes to identifying and reporting circus animal abuse. If it were not for the help of concerned and compassionate people the truth about Ringling Brothers Circus cruelty and other circuses would still be well hidden and left unchecked.

Many uniformed people see elephants and other circus animals as being something of an American cultural tradition. Often, though, after becoming informed that no circus can possibly provide the right environment or proper care for such creatures, people find it unconscionable to allow an animal circus into town. Over 50 municipalities across the US, from Marin County CA to Weymouth MA prohibit circuses from operating in their community if they have elephants or other wild animals.

Ringling Brothers Circus- The Cruelest Show On Earth Industry Leader

Of all the animal circuses, Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus is the most diabolical and manipulative, not only to the animals, but also to the public.

Ringling Bros. public relations department has been working overtime to deceive the public into believing that animals imprisoned in the circus are “treated like family.” But no amount of misleading propaganda can sanitize the circus’s horrific record of animal neglect and their sabotage of the work of animal advocacy groups.

Since 1993, Ringling Brothers has been cited for more than one hundred deficiencies in animal care during inspections conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The circus has consistently opposed legislation and regulations to improve the conditions of captive wildlife. In California, for example, Ringling Bros. opposed legislation to limit the time an elephant may be confined in chains in a 24-hour period. Ringling Brothers has been investigated by the USDA as a result of allegations of cruelty to animals made by former circus workers, one of whom testified before Congress about his experiences with the circus. Since late 1998, three former Ringling Brothers employees have stated that the circus’s elephants, including the babies, receive regular beatings. The Ringling Bros. circus has been sued by two animal protection organizations for conducting illegal spying operations.To settle one case out of court, Ringling Bros. agreed to turn over custody of older animals.

Ringling Brothers Circus failed to protect a 4-year old Bengal tiger from being shot to death while he was in his cage; killed a 3-year old elephant through neglect and tried to hide the body; forcibly separated two baby elephants from their mothers by dragging the babies away with rope, resulting in rope burn wounds on the rear legs of the babies; overworked a 15-year old horse to the point of exhaustion and death; drowned a 4-year old elephant; tried to cover-up the death of a 2-year-old lion that dehydrated in a circus train that was traveling with no water break across California’s Mojave Desert on an overly hot day; euthanized an 8-month old elephant who fell from a pedestal breaking his legs that were bound together during training; caused a wild caught sea lion to die in her transport container, and failed to provide adequate ventilation for their tigers resulting in one tiger injuring his eye and breaking his tooth as he attempted to tear open a cage door and escape from the dangerously high temperatures of the trailer.

But the crimes that Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus commits extend beyond nonhuman animals. Ken Feld, CEO of Ringling Brothers Circus has been caught performing illegal wiretaps on the public, hiring ex-CIA people to illegally monitor and interfere in peoples’ lives, manipulating public sentiment against animal protection organizations, and using lobbyists and lawyers to defeat legislation which was designed to protect people from harm. Proof of this information is found in “Smith vs. Feld, civil action case number 98-357-A.

In that document Clair E. George, former Central Intelligence Agency deputy director for covert operations states that “Feld had set up a special unit, much like the Watergate ‘plumbers,’ to destroy anyone who threatened the image of the circus as wholesome fun-for-the-whole-family, conscientious custodian of animals. Feld’s main target was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).”

PETA had circulated USDA reports that described horrible conditions at Ringling Brothers circus’s Center for Elephant Conservation in Polk City, Fla. At the Center USDA inspectors found two tightly chained baby elephants with lesions and scars on their legs, evidently caused by constant friction with their restraints. When USDA inspectors asked about the injuries, the elephant handlers told the inspectors that baby elephants were “routinely” chained to forcibly separate them “from their mothers.” The handlers angrily tried to block the inspectors from taking pictures. It was also discovered that about half of the elephants in Ringling Brothers Circus shows in Florida had a form of tuberculosis that was transmittable to human beings.

Animal-Free Circuses

Not all circuses use animals. Good circuses dazzle their audiences solely with skilled human performers who are so talented at their art that they don’t need to enslave animals. Some animalfree circuses that have grown in popularity include Cirque du Soleil, Circus Smirkus, Circus Chimera, Circus Millennia, Cirque Eloize, Circus Oz, The New Pickle Family Circus, and Bindlestiff Family Circus. These animal-free circuses make it possible for families to have fun without causing animal suffering.

The number of cities and towns that are banning the use of animals in circuses is growing. People in many communities are realizing that wild animals don’t belong in the circus because of harm to the animals and the inherent risk to public safety.

You Can Help

Every individual has the power to limit and even stop the use of animals in circuses. Educate others. Most people would not support the circus if they saw animal trainers beating elephants mercilessly with razor sharp bullhooks behind the scenes or knew that tigers were kept in cages only 4’ x 5’ for the majority of their lives. Talk to friends, family, and neighbors about the cruel treatment animals endure under the big top. Encourage them to join you in taking a stand against animal circuses. You can also write letters to urge industry leaders and circus sponsors to avoid bringing animal circuses into town; ask your town to ban live animal acts; encourage legislators to support legislation to end exotic animal acts; request enforcement of animal welfare regulations; and report any perceived violations of state and local animal protection laws to the police and animal control.

If you are interested in helping to stop animal circuses from coming into Massachusetts please contact the Animal Protection Institute at 1-800- 348-7387, or go to www.api4animals.org or www.morebeautifulwild.com

Four Fast Facts about Animals in the Circus

1. Every major circus that uses animals has been cited for violating the minimal standards of care set forth in the United States Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

2. Animals born in circus “conservation” breeding programs have never been released into the wild.

3. From 1994 to 2005, at least 31 elephants died premature deaths in the circus.

4. Captive elephant and captive feline attacks on humans in the U.S. have resulted in hundreds of injuries, many resulting in death.

As Ringling Bros. Heads to Worcester, PETA Releases Exposé of Circus’s Elephant-Breeding Compound

By David Perle

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is bringing its elephant act to Worcester for the last time, but many people are asking what will happen once the elephants “retire” to Ringling’s Florida training facility.

A new PETA report reveals that elephants kept at the facility, which the circus calls the “Center for Elephant Conservation,” are separated from their mothers shortly after birth, chained for more than 16 hours each day on concrete, and beaten with bullhooks—weapons that resemble a fireplace poker with a sharp metal hook on one end. The report also calls the facility “a hotbed of tuberculosis.”

08_S_Inside-barn_babies-chained-768x1140

PETA — whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way” — is calling on Ringling to retire all animals held by the circus without delay and send the elephants to an accredited sanctuary where they’d have acres to roam, freedom from physical abuse, and the opportunity to socialize with other elephants.

“PETA’s report reveals that Ringling Bros. plans to continue using and abusing elephants by keeping them chained, jabbing them with bullhooks, and depriving them of everything that’s natural and important to them—such as freedom of movement and maintaining contact with their babies,” says PETA Foundation Captive Animal Law Enforcement Counsel Rachel Mathews. “If this circus cared one whisker for animals’ welfare, it would send these elephants to an accredited sanctuary where they’d be cared for, not exploited as moneymakers.”

For more information, CLICK HERE

Great news! Monday’s Ringling show at the DCU center was cancelled!

And crowds were not big for the cruelest show on earth on Sunday or Saturday! THANK YOU, WORCESTER COUNTY families! THANK YOU, WORCESTER CITY OFFICIALS FOR NOT ROLLING OUT THE RED CARPET FOR RINGLING!

RBB-SaddestShow-3

I predict: In 10 years or even sooner, circuses that showcase wild animals will be a thing of the past in America, like other American disasters: slavery, blood-letting, the Jim Crow South, women being denied the vote, the Salem witch trials, banning Henry Miller novels, circuses toting around people with special needs and calling it a FREAK SHOW…

America and Worcester move forward! Yay!!!!!!!!!

– Rosalie Tirella

Hate Ringling for what it does to magnificent wild animals? We do, too! Here are some scheduled protests …

Local gal Deb Young is going gangbusters on our circus fb page, here on our website. To learn EVERYTHING about wild animals forced to “perform” in circuses and other traveling shows, click on our circus Facebook page. It’s updated all the time! 

CLICK HERE to see it!

This info is from our fb page …

PLEASE attend one or more of these PROTESTS!

Let Ringling know you don’t want wild animals chained; confined in poorly ventilated train box cars for, on average, 26 HOURS; fed garbage; forced to live lives TOTALLY alienated from the natural world!

See you at Sunday’s protest outside the DCU Center!

– R. Tirella

If a protest has not yet been planned for your area, read our Protesting Guide and then contact us for assistance with getting set up. [Click on InCity Times circus fb page!]

OCTOBER

October 1-4 Manchester, NH Ringling Bros.

October 1-4 Everett, WA Ringling Bros.

October 1-12 Denver, CO Ringling Bros.

October 4 Waynesville Asheville, NC Waynesville Fairgrounds

October 9-10 Spokane, WA Ringling Bros.

October 10 Worcester, MA Ringling Bros.

October 14-18 Boston, MA Ringling Bros.

October 16-18 St Louis, MO Ringling Bros

October 16-18 Des Moines, IA Ringling Bros.

October 21-25 Cleveland, OH Ringling Bros.

October 22-25 Bridgeport, CT Ringlng Bros.

October 29-Nov 1 Toledo, OH Ringling Bros.

NOVEMBER
November 5 Rosemont, IL Ringling Bros

November 4-8 Pittsburgh, PA Ringling Bros.

November 12 Independence, MO Shrine Circus

November 11-15 Auburn Hills, MI Ringling Bros.

November 18-29 Chicago, IL Ringling Bros.

November 19-22 Youngstown, OH Ringling Bros.

DECEMBER
December 3-6 Indianapolis, IN Ringling Bros.

December 30-January 2 Huntsville, AL Ringling Bros.

FEBRUARY 2016
February 6 WORLDWIDE RALLY FOR CECIL sponsored by CompassionWorks International (see main listing for individual event listings)

Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty says our city needs Ringling Bros. because of the $$ …

Not really, Joe! Check out this economic impact report! Copies were mailed to city councilors! Economic Impact Analysis of Circus Legislation on Massachusetts (00140122) It’s blood money …   – R. Tirella

 

 

The Worcester City Council and Ringling Bros. Circus

BOYCOTT THE CIRCUS!

By Rosalie Tirella

The above photo says it all, doesn’t it? Underscores the cruelty/absurdity of wild animal acts in circuses. Wild, undomesticated, man-eating big cats weighing hundreds of pounds, standing on their tippy toes – for its trainer, for you, for your kids – for YOUR entertainment. Tigers living in India or Africa, where they roam hundreds of miles to hunt, eat, mate, raise their young ones brought to cities like Worcester on trains, baking in the summer in their box cars, freezing in the winter in their boxcars. Tigers and other large predators keep ecosystems in check … . They are gorgeous … . They are wild creatures that belong in the wild. But we keep them in tiny cages and make idiots of them … literally make them mad/insane.

Why does America do this to beautiful wild things? (Circuses showcasing wild animals are banned in the European Union.) Why does America continue to do what we have been doing since the white man enslaved black men, women and children and killed all the Indians? Why do we hold onto this last bit of American brutality? Why do we enslave? Why do we refuse to see the truth: that these animals do not belong anywhere near Worcester or humans – forced/tortured to do stupid tricks. Hate to admit this, but there is poetic justice every time one of the performing tigers or lions or elephants, at wit’s end, mauls/kills his/her trainer. “Turns on them” – as if the animals were ever on our side.  Of course, then, we acknowledge the lion’s/tiger’s wildness and kill it immediately.

How does Worcester fit into all this?

A few years ago a friend and I went to visit then Mayor Joe O’Brien. I liked Joe being mayor of Worcester, thought he was incredibly sensitive to people and animals. I believed if Worcester were to follow in the steps of other Mass citites like Northampton, Cambridge and heck, even Revere, and BAN wild animal acts from our fair city, now would be the time to strike. So many people in Worcester love and care for abused animals or adopt homeless dogs from animal shelters or feed feral cat colonies! (I have done all of this and maintained two feral cat colonies for TEN YEARS!)

Any ways, my friend and I went to Joe O’Brien and told him how we – and lots of local folks – felt about circuses that showcase wild animal acts. Joe being Joe, didn’t need any educating or convincing. He told us he was on the animals’ side and that he would be behind a new proposed ordinance in Worcester: NO WILD ANIMAL acts in Worcester.

YES to clowns and Cirque de Soleil and acrobats and all magicians and huge marionettes and Bread and Circus! NO to tigers and lions and elephants and all the companies that parade them in front of  us humans! Joe O’Brien (now a Worcester city councilor) felt the cirucs was no way to expose kids – especially working class kids – to nature/Africa/wild animals/ecosystems. He told us Ringling Bros Circus had called his office – the mayor’s office – to do a kind of public relations stunt/photo op: The Mayor of Worcester hangs out on CITY HALL Common and feeds the circus elephants! The mayor (and thus, all of Worcester!) welcomes the wonderful circus to our city! Joe’s office said NO THANKS.  No one was rude to Ringling, no one pontificated. The mayor simply let the circus know that he, representing the city, wanted no part of this travesty.

Wow! My friend and I were encouraged! O’Brien told us to talk with the other city councilors to see if we could get a passing vote. We called/visited the other 10 Worcester City Councilors and made this progress:

* Former District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller was on board! YES from Barb!  Hooray! An owner of a few rescued pit bulls from the surrounding Main South ‘hood in which she lived, Barb was clued into animal suffering and pain. She said she would vote for the ban.

* Past and PRESENT City Councilor Mike Germain also wanted to vote YES! Germain really impressed me! He told me of all the animals he owns and loves and that when he and his girlfriend and her little kid went into a kind of circus tent downtown to see the animals that they were showing the public, he was so appalled by their cramped/inhumane cages/living quarters that he and his girlfriend and her kid turned right around and WALKED OUT! Thank you, Councilor Germain!

* City Councilor Konstantina Lukes was, I believe, on board.  I counted Konnie as a YES because she is a sensitive person, and a cool person and cares about animals and people and our city. She listened to the points I made to her when I visited her. She came outside (walked me to my car) and gave my big old retriever mix Bailey (Bailey, like my Husky dog Jett, always rode with me in my car) a pat. She told me she thought my dog was beautiful! He was! (He had nasal cancer at that point, my Bailey Boy did. He died within the year.)

So with O’Brien, Lukes,  Haller and Germain on board, I was optimistic! Hopeful!

Then the Worcester municipal election came and went, and a different city council – one less progressive/sensitive, I believe – is now “leading” our city. So, of course, City Manager Mike O’Brien has given his blessing to all the animal torture! Of course, the elephants, tired and sad looking, were paraded through our city streets! Last year Ringling Bros. circus even managed to ingratiate themselves with the great people at the Worcester Historical Museum and added their elephants to the city’s World Smiley Day celebration, defiling an otherwise sweet Worcester celebration.

Let’s get back on track, Worcester! Let’s educate ourselves! Let’s educate our city council and city leaders AND BAN THIS HORROR SHOW from our cool, cool city – a city filled with good, smart, down to earth people who know how to care for each other … and the wild animals of the planet.

A clown’s confession (or: Why I put down the red nose)

By André du Broc

I’ve spent much of my life in careers centered around making others happy. As an actor, I believed that my first responsibility was to the audience. They needed to be engaged by everything that I did on stage. This was particularly true of my time as a circus clown. If an audience’s joy depended on my dropping my pants, I dropped my pants. If it meant taking a pie in the face, so be it.

The veneer of the circus was everything I desired in a career. It was a chance to make masses of people happy, a chance to travel, and an opportunity to take my silliness very seriously. What I found backstage, however, was very different.

Audiences come to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth primarily to see two things—clowns and elephants.

I spent most of my time with the elephants. Continue reading A clown’s confession (or: Why I put down the red nose)

Ringling Bros. beats its baby elephants! Boycott Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus!

By Ingrid Newkirk

What circuses such as Ringling Bros. have told the public for years about the way they train elephants is a lie. And PETA can prove it! Sam Haddock, a former elephant trainer who worked for Ringling, provided PETA with exclusive photos of the secret, violent, and cruel training methods that Ringling has used on helpless baby elephants. These photographs are shocking, and they fly in the face of all the false claims that Ringling has made to the media and the public about its training and care of elephants. Now, armed with this explosive new evidence, we need to turn up the heat in order to end Ringling’s cruel circus acts and free these wonderful animals from their involuntary and miserable lives of servitude. Continue reading Ringling Bros. beats its baby elephants! Boycott Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus!

Ask your legislator to help elephants by supporting S. 1870

Dear InCity Times readers,

In July 2009, PETA released the findings of an undercover investigation of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that spanned several months and took place in more than a dozen U.S. states. Our investigator documented routine abuse of elephants and tigers at the hands of Ringling workers, including an animal superintendent and a head elephant trainer.

One of the implements that Ringling employees routinely use is a bullhook—a heavy, hard-handled device with a sharp, steel hook at one end that trainers use to beat elephants on the head, the ears, the trunk, and other sensitive areas. The use of bullhooks is standard in the circus industry, and its use on elephants results in pain, suffering, and trauma, including lacerations, puncture wounds, and abscesses. While an elephant’s skin appears tough, it is actually so sensitive that the animals can feel a fly land and the pain of an insect bite. Trainers typically embed the hooks into the elephants’ skin and soft-tissue areas. Continue reading Ask your legislator to help elephants by supporting S. 1870

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: The saddest show on earth

By Ingrid E. Newkirk

Elephants have the largest brains of any mammal on the face of the earth. They are creative, altruistic and kind. They use tools to sweep paths and even to draw pictures in the dirt and scratch themselves in inaccessible places, and they communicate subsonically at frequencies so low that humans cannot detect them without sophisticated equipment. Imagine, then, what it must be like for them to be told what to do, courtesy of a bullhook—a rod resembling a fireplace poker with a sharp metal hook on the end—at every moment of their lives. Yet this is what life is like for elephants used in circuses, who are constantly beaten and kept chained, sometimes for days at a time.

It takes a lot to get circusgoers to see beyond the headdresses and glitter to that metal-tipped bullhook sinking into an elephant’s soft flesh behind her ears and knees. But I hope that PETA’s new undercover investigation of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will help open some eyes.
PETA’s investigator caught Ringling employees digging sharp metal bullhooks into the sensitive skin behind elephants’ knees and under their trunks. Eight employees—including an animal superintendent and a head elephant trainer—used bullhooks and other objects to strike elephants on the head, ears and trunk. Employees whipped elephants and a tiger, including on or near the face. One elephant, Tonka, repeatedly exhibited signs of severe psychological stress but was nevertheless forced to perform night after night. The footage can be seen on our website. Continue reading Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: The saddest show on earth