‘Elephant’ to Confront Potential Circusgoers
After Ringling Announces Plan to Phase Out Elephant Acts by 2018, PETA and Long Islanders Call for Animals’ Release Today
For Immediate Release:
March 5, 2015
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Following Ringling Bros.’ announcement that the circus will phase out its elephant acts by 2018, a costumed “elephant” will lead members of PETA and Long Island Orchestrating for Nature as they gather tonight for a protest outside the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where Ringling is appearing through the weekend, with signs proclaiming, “End Elephant Use and Abuse NOW.”
Where: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 1255 Hempstead Tpke. (at the intersection of Glenn Curtiss Boulevard and Hempstead Turnpike), Uniondale
When: Thursday, March 5, 6 p.m.
“For 35 years, PETA has protested Ringling Bros.’ cruelty to elephants, and if Ringling is really telling the truth about ending this horror, it’s a day to pop the champagne corks,” says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk, who also addresses the new development in a video statement. “However, their retirement day needs to come now. Three years is too long for a mother elephant separated from her calf, too long for a baby elephant beaten with bullhooks—sharp weapons resembling a fireplace poker that Ringling handlers use routinely—and too long for an animal who would roam up to 30 miles a day in the wild but instead is kept in shackles. If Ringling is serious about its decision, then the circus needs to end the use of elephants NOW.”
In addition to its long, documented history of beating elephants, Ringling was recently caught denying veterinary care to three suffering elephants who were apparently locked in boxcars for as long as four days at a time while on the road. Actor Edie Falco stars in a video for PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—asking parents to keep their kids away from circuses that use animals.
For more information, please visit PETA’s website RinglingBeatsAnimals.com.
