Imagine having to perform strenuous physical tasks even though you were suffering from diarrhea and abdominal discomfort so severe that you were taking pain medication. That’s just another day in the life of Banko, a 35-year-old female Asian elephant traveling with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus who was forced to perform even though … Read more »
After hearing from PETA and concerned area residents, Glendale, California, Mayor Laura Friedman has proposed changing the city’s float entry for the 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade from a “circus elephant”—which represents pain and suffering—to one of an elephant in a natural setting. Check out the draft design idea that PETA submitted to the mayor … Read more »
Thanks to the generosity of fantastic PETA supporter and activist, Anna Ware, PETA has been able to put billboards up across Augusta, Georgia—ahead of the arrival of the notoriously cruel Cole Bros. Circus to that city—making sure that residents know that elephants used in circuses endure a lifetime of abuse and neglect and that “Elephants … Read more »
On a hot Labor Day weekend, Los Angeles–area residents showed their warm hearts by turning out in droves to speak out against notorious elephant abuser Have Trunk Will Travel‘s (HTWT) elephant rides at the L.A. County Fair. Then, as the first demonstration was wrapping up, another wave of people came to protest, so fairgoers were … Read more »
As the L.A. County Fair opens this Saturday, notorious elephant-abusing company Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT) is scheduled to be there, selling rides on elephants. There is still time for people to e-mail L.A. County Fair organizers and ask that they send HTWT packing. If HTWT attends as scheduled, members of PETA and Animal … Read more »
Before making plans to go trekking in Nepal, please look at the video footage and photographs taken during an undercover investigation commissioned by PETA India. The footage shows how baby elephants in this South Asian tourist destination are taken from their mothers and “broken” by being chained, struck, and burned so that they can be … Read more »
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 »
Update: District Magistrate Naveen Mahajan of Jaipur has ordered the elephant Polo Cup to be canceled following appeals by PETA India and notification from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) that the cup organizers did not register the elephants with AWBI as required and also failed to submit valid elephant ownership certificates. The District … 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 »
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 »
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 »
e_tavares/cc by 2.0 There’s no justice for Lucy—yet. Despite what PETA and Zoocheck Canada described to an appellate court as blatant violations of Alberta’s Animal Protection Act by the Edmonton Valley Zoo, the court today refused to give Lucy her day in court. But in a groundbreaking dissenting opinion that takes up 45 pages of … 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 »
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 »
