We were recently informed by a whistleblower that Ringling trainer Joe Frisco Jr. was attacked by one of the elephants used by the circus, sustaining injuries severe enough to send him to the hospital. The source claimed that Frisco “has been pounding” on the elephant, which, given the Frisco family’s penchant for violently abusing animals, … Read more »
Update: There was a great investigative report on this issue that was on KHOU-TV this week. Check it out here. Our Captive Animals department has been working overtime on a case involving two elephants named Tina and Jewel. The elephants belong to Cole Bros., a circus that was assessed a $10,000 penalty by the U.S. … Read more »
Don’t worry if you don’t get that subject line. It’s just a shout out to my homegirl, Anuradha “Slim Shady” Sawhney, who does a hell of a job running PETA India. The point of this post is really to give props to the whole gang over at PETA India, who just released the incredibly … Read more »
nytimes/Creative Commons After years of urging from PETA, the Alaska Zoo just announced that they will be sending Maggie, a 27-year-old African elephant, to the Performing Animal Welfare Society sanctuary in California! Maggie was captured in Zimbabwe in 1981 during a cull, and likely watched as her entire family was slaughtered. She has lived at … Read more »
As lawyers go, Ringling Bros. has some pretty fancy, expensive ones, but despite their best efforts last week, they couldn’t keep the circus from being dragged into the courtroom once again, this time on charges of (surprise, surprise) elephant abuse. Judge Emmet Sullivan announced Thursday that a last ditch attempt by Ringling’s attorneys to hold … Read more »
Editions/Creative Commons Hans Ruesch, author of the bestselling book against animal experiments Slaughter of the Innocent, has died at the age of 94. Born in Italy, Ruesch shared a love of auto racing with PETA’s president: Between 1932 and 1937 he won 27 Grand Prix races. In 1937 he wrote the novel Gladiators, which was … Read more »
Seriously. If you have a store that could use a kickass elephant display for a few months, tell us where, why, and perhaps we can deliver it to you. It stands about 5½ feet tall when on its base, and about 3 feet wide. Ella weighs 150 lbs and the base an additional 700 pounds. … Read more »
I just saw this Newsweek story about the latest trends in fishing and hunting. To put it in a nutshell, a five year U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study just reported a sharp decline in the number of Americans participating in fishing and hunting. Interestingly enough, this doesn’t mean that people aren’t spending time in … Read more »
The folks in our Vegan department have asked me to remind everyone that the deadline for our Sizzling Summer BBQ Recipe Contest is midnight on July 4. So, if you want to be in the running to win a new grill, among other cool prizes, get your recipes in soon. The winning recipes will also … Read more »
Hope you’re having a good “Be Kind to Animals Week” Thursday. Remember the Hawthorn elephant campaign from a couple of years ago? If not, the short version is that after extensive negotiations over many months, a circus operation called the Hawthorn Corporation agreed to relinquish twelve elephants to a sanctuary, resulting in the single largest … Read more »
Dulary arrives at the sanctuary Some great elephant news on two fronts for you today, as two famous elephants have found new places to live. The first, an elephant named Dulary from the Philadelphia Zoo, has been released to a sanctuary to spend the rest of her life following the zoo’s decision to close down … Read more »
Pic from the show At the end of her recent show in Chicago, longtime PETA supporter Joan Jett took the opportunity to read out a statement to the crowd attacking Ringling Bros. Circus for their shocking abuse of elephants. She also urged the crowd to come out in support of a new ordinance in Chicago … Read more »
