Elephant advocates are celebrating a new policy by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The policy requires that all AZA-accredited facilities prohibit staff and elephants from being in the same space, with some limited exceptions, by September 2014. This means that elephants in zoos will be protected from handlers (and the abusive instruments they wield) … Read more »
Citing Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ constant abuse of animals, several influential California humane societies—the Marin Humane Society, the East Bay SPCA, the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA, and the Sacramento SPCA—are publicly calling for a boycott of the circus, asking families to stay away from Ringling performances scheduled for the San Francisco … Read more »
UPDATE: After receiving a complaint from PETA about the incident below, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited the exhibitor who provided the tiger to UniverSoul for handling the tiger in a manner that caused her stress and unnecessary discomfort. The exhibitor was also cited for failing to maintain the tiger’s enclosure in a manner that … Read more »
An elephant who was being loaded into a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus boxcar collapsed after struggling to climb the ramp, and according to an eyewitness, a Ringling crew member intimidated and forced the elephant to get up and into the railroad car. The circus was loading animals after finishing a run in … Read more »
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will go far and wide to find more animals to exploit. Feld Entertainment, which owns this wretchedly cruel circus, has applied to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) to import eight tigers and one leopard who are currently being used in a circus in Germany. PETA has … Read more »
It’s official: The Carson & Barnes Circus puts people and animals at risk. Coming on the heels of three complaints that PETA filed about the circus’s dangerous animal-handling methods, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited the circus for handling elephants in a cruel and dangerous manner. In one instance, a handler answered his cell … Read more »
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act prohibits false and deceptive advertising, so why does the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus get away with promoting beaten elephants and whipped tigers as the “greatest show on Earth”? In a letter sent to the commission, PETA asks that very question. Contrary to what Ringling’s self-serving PR … Read more »
Great news on the circus front from our colleagues at Animal Defenders International: Peru’s president, Alan García, has signed a law banning wild animals in circuses. The decision comes right on the heels of the British Parliament’s unanimous vote to direct the government to introduce a similar ban. Legislation is also pending in Scotland, Brazil, Ecuador, … Read more »
Update: PETA has filed a complaint with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regarding Rocky’s suffering, and the agency has confirmed that it has opened an investigation into the matter. We have not received word from the commission on their findings yet, but members of the boxing community are weighing in on the matter … Read more »
Sarah Silverman doesn’t think there’s anything funny about hurting animals. The comedian and provocateur has fired off a letter on behalf of PETA to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking that four ailing elephants traveling with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus be seized. These four girls are still on the road and … Read more »
In a protest called “massive” by a local television station, author and fitness guru Jillian Michaels led the charge alongside producer Sam Simon, Twilight‘s Christian Serratos, The Secret Life of the American Teenager‘s Renee Olstead, and hundreds of demonstrators outside the Los Angeles Staples Center to call attention to the abuse of elephants by the … Read more »
Animal Defenders International (ADI), which released video footage of an elephant, Tai, and others being hit with bullhooks and shocked with a stun gun, has filed suit against exhibitor Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT) for allegedly making misleading claims about how Tai was treated. PETA Files readers may recall that HTWT is the same outfit … Read more »
In a stunning victory for animals, the British Parliament has voted to direct the government to ban wild animals in circuses. MPs across all party lines unanimously backed the directive, which, if followed, will end the use of lions, tigers, elephants, and other wild animals in circuses in England and Wales. More good news: Scotland … Read more »
PETA is calling on authorities to take action in the wake of a vicious beating of an elephant traveling with the Cole Bros. Circus. Last week in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, a citizen took video footage and gave an eyewitness account of the beating of an elephant, who was repeatedly hit with a bullhook. The handler yelled … Read more »
Zina and Jewel, two aging elephants who have spent nearly their entire lives with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Jewel since 1954 and Zina since 1972), have been “donated” by the circus to the Little Rock Zoo. Some “retirement”: The Little Rock Zoo still uses the cruel and archaic free-contact system to … Read more »
