Look Back on PETA’s Victories and Ongoing Efforts to End Shrine Circus Animal Abuse
With Shriners International chapters hosting abusive animal circuses, you’d think it was the 1920s. But 100 years later, Shrine circuses are still obtaining animals from notoriously cruel exhibitors and forcing them to perform in stressful and unnatural environments.
Video footage recorded at Shrine circuses has shown humans doing the following:
- Whipping tigers in the face
- Pulling bison by rings in their noses
- Jabbing elephants with a bullhook—a weapon that resembles a fireplace poker with a sharp metal hook on one end
- Causing other animals to suffer in despair
Step right up to see how PETA is helping to end this exploitation, toppling big top abusers in droves.
PETA Campaigns to Help Animals Suffering in Shrine Circuses
Our animal defenders have sent more than 445,000 messages to Shriners International urging it to ban animal circuses and more than 95,000 e-mails to specific Shrine chapters urging them to stop using animals at events. We’ve held eye-catching protests that grabbed the attention of the media and put additional pressure on Shrine circuses to evolve.
PETA’s compelling ads and videos have shown the world how elephants, tigers, camels, and other animals used in Shrine circuses are carted to shows and forced to perform. Animals used by circuses to entertain audiences don’t stand on their heads, jump through hoops, or balance on pedestals because they want to. They perform these and other difficult, confusing tricks because they’re afraid of the consequences of not doing so.
PETA Pressures Shriners International
Hundreds of thousands of conscientious people have joined us in urging Shriners International—which has about 200 local chapters across the U.S., many of which still host circuses that use animals—to make all its chapters’ fundraisers animal-free.
Bold PETA Actions Shun Shriners International Cruelty
At a 2019 Shriners’ talk called “Future of Circuses,” the granddaughter of a Shriner took over the microphone to criticize the group’s use of animals.
In November 2022, PETA erected a billboard just down the road from the Shriners International headquarters. It featured an unmissable, sky-high appeal from a baby elephant who begged to be left out of the circus.
The following month, our supporters gathered outside Shriners International’s headquarters amid the holiday season. Among them was an “elephant” Santa, who, along with his elves, delivered wheelbarrows of coal to the Shriners. PETA urged the group to get off the “naughty” list by making Shrine circuses animal-free.
As Shriners International members gathered for a March 2023 conference in Tampa, Florida, they were met with a PETA video ad played on a mobile billboard. The billboard then cruised around downtown Tampa and the Shriners International headquarters, showing disturbing video footage of an elephant trainer who routinely partners with Shrine circuses. In the video, the man instructs other trainers to sink bullhooks into elephants’ flesh and twist them until the animals scream. The ad also showed an image of a baby elephant being abused along with the words “Shameful Shriners!”
In July 2023, animal defenders crashed the Shriners International Imperial Session in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a powerful message. PETA supporters—dressed as circus performers wearing the Shriners’ emblematic fez hats—deployed giant inflatable “elephants” they chained and beat as crowds passed by.
That same week, protesters disrupted a prayer session at the Charlotte Oasis Shriners’ temple. Animal allies accosted the Shriners International then-incoming imperial potentate as he exited a car during the Shriners Imperial Session’s Fourth of July parade. PETA also disrupted the Shriners Incoming Potentate Pageant to appeal to the imperial potentate again, urging him to ban cruel animal acts.
One year later, in July 2024, we were at the Imperial Session of Shriners International in Reno, Nevada. We brought along a 15-foot-high inflatable fez that read, “Shrine Circuses Abuse Animals,” and positioned it outside the Reno Events Center to greet attendees.
As the Shriners announced their new imperial potentate, Richard Burke, during the 2024 Fourth of July parade, an animal defender jumped over a barricade and unveiled a sign that said, “Richard Burke Supports Whipping and Beating Animals.”
The following day, as Burke was being inducted during the Shriners’ pageant, an animal ally rushed the stage while holding up a sign reading, “Shriners International Supports Animal Abuse.”
When addressed directly about the practice of using animals in circus shows, Shriners have repeatedly reacted with violence.
PETA has documented aggressive encounters between Shriners and peaceful protesters.
Shriners’ programs and policies promote animal abuse, are sexist, and have been accused of cultural appropriation.
Some well-intentioned people may think that attending a Shrine circus directly benefits children, but the ticket sales aren’t charitable donations: The profits are generally used to maintain the club’s premises and fund its activities.
Numerous cities and states across the U.S. have enacted bans on wild- and “exotic”-animal shows, and Shrine circuses in Canada now perform without such acts.
However, dozens of Shrine chapters in the U.S. still host circuses with live-animal acts, even while Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey, and other circuses are modernizing with human-only performances.
Two chapters still exploiting animals are the Ararat Shrine in Blue Springs, Missouri, and the Sharon Shrine in Tyler, Texas.
PETA Actions Urging Ararat Shrine Circus to Go Animal-Free
In November 2024, before the Ararat Shrine Circus in Independence, Missouri, PETA fired off a letter to Ararat Shrine Potentate Mark Koontz, calling on him to drop animal acts from the performance. The letter pointed out that video footage shows the head trainer for Carson & Barnes Circus—which frequently provides elephant acts for the Ararat Shrine Circus, despite having been cited for more than 100 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act—instructing trainers to sink sharp, steel-tipped bullhooks into elephants’ flesh and twist them until the animals scream. One of those elephants, Becky, has been forced to perform at the Ararat Shrine Circus in recent years—as has Viola, an elderly elephant who recently escaped from another show and ran panicked through the streets in Butte, Montana.
Later that month, on the circus’ opening show outside Cable Dahmer Arena, a herd of PETA supporters went full steam ahead with a bold demonstration, deploying a 20-foot-tall, bloodied, and crying “elephant” while holding signs reading, “Shrine Circuses Abuse Animals.”
PETA Actions Urging Sharon Shrine to Go Animal-Free
On November 17, 2022, our supporters gathered at the Sharon Shrine Temple for a bold protest.
In August 2023, ahead of the Sharon Shrine Circus, PETA ran TV ads and sent a public letter to the potentate of the Sharon Shrine. We urged him to leave elephants and other exploited animals out of the show and rely on only talented humans to entertain attendees.
From August 29 to September 2, 2023, we held a five-city tour across east Texas. Our supporters transported a gigantic, 15-foot-high inflatable fez that read, “Shrine Circuses Abuse Animals,” with them as they followed the Sharon Shrine Circus.
In February 2024, we crashed the Sharon Shrine’s Nobility Ball to point out that there’s nothing noble about exploiting animals.
In late August 2024, PETA once again tailed the Sharon Shrine circus across east Texas, stopping in five cities. This time, we deployed an unmissable, 20-foot-tall tear-stained inflatable elephant covered in gashes and chained to a sign reading, “Elephants Beaten and Chained for Shrine Circuses.”
After the Sharon Shrine posted a picture of its 2024 potentate, John Webb, in close contact with elephants Isa and Viola—who, like him, are in their late 50s—PETA sent him a public letter highlighting the stark differences between his life and theirs.
People in Texas have not only found bold red stickers calling for an end to Shrine circus animal abuse but also spotted “Wanted” posters targeting the Sharon Shrine’s then-potentate.
PETA Victories for Animals in Shrine Circuses
As a result of vigorous campaigning against the use of animals in Shrine circuses, PETA has secured many victories. These include the end of elephant acts at the Moolah and Hadi Shrine circuses and the absence of certain animal acts at the 2024 Yaarab Shrine Circus in Atlanta.
2024 Yaarab Shrine Circus Was Free of Wild and ‘Exotic’ Animals
The 2024 Yaarab Shrine Circus didn’t exploit elephants or any other wild-animal species. This exciting development followed a relentless PETA campaign that included these actions:
- Outreach to the event’s sponsors, which led to the loss of former top sponsor GLOCK Inc.
- More than 250,000 e-mails from our supporters
- Eye-catching protests at circus shows and other Shrine events
- Placement of compelling and provocative advertisements
For years, this circus had routinely used elephant acts provided by notoriously cruel exhibitors, including Carson & Barnes Circus and Carden Circus. The decision not to use wild animal species in the 2024 circus was a huge step in the right direction, but all Shrines must commit to making their circuses completely animal-free.
Hadi Shrine Circus Ends Elephant Acts
In April 2024, following a vigorous PETA campaign—which included more than 250,000 e-mails from our supporters, eye-catching protests at circus shows and Shrine events, and appeals to circus sponsors to cut ties—along with protests by dedicated local advocates, the Hadi Shrine in Evansville, Indiana, announced that it would stop exploiting elephants in its circus!
This victory brought PETA one step closer to ending the use of elephants in circuses entirely. It also serves as a message for every other holdout Shrine circus to get with the times by switching to animal-free shows that dazzle audiences with human talent.
Moolah Shrine Ends Elephant Acts
Two weeks after Moolah Shriners were caught on video assaulting two nonviolent protesters—and following months of protests and appeals from over 60,000 PETA supporters—the Moolah Shrine in St. Louis announced that it would no longer feature elephant acts in its circus. It had previously ended the use of big cats and bears.
Elephants are highly social animals who form strong, lasting bonds with their family members. They work together to solve problems and rely on the wisdom, judgment, and experience of their eldest relatives. In their natural homes, elephants spend their days socializing, swimming, browsing, and playing.
Tell Shriners to End Cruel Animal Circuses!
PETA makes it quick and easy to contact Shriners with a message calling for an end to animal exploitation. Help us secure more victories—and some relief—for animals suffering in Shrine circuses.
Tell Shriners International to require that all its chapters’ fundraisers be animal-free:
Then, urge individual Shrines to stop using animals:
