Angry Over Sharon Shrine Potentate’s ‘Photo Op’ With Aged Elephants: ‘You Got to Retire—Now It’s Their Turn,’ PETA Says

For Immediate Release:
September 17, 2024

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After the Sharon Shrine recently posted an image on social media showing Potentate John Webb with elderly elephants Isa and Viola—who are still held captive and forced to perform stupid tricks even though the animals, like Webb, are in their late 50s—PETA fired off a letter this morning to the potentate highlighting the stark differences between his life and theirs and calling on him to make the circus animal-free.

The group points out that as Webb reached milestones throughout his life—including getting married, having children, and retiring—Isa and Viola were violently torn away from their homes and families, chained up, and hauled around the country. Though they show signs of age-related degenerative joint disease and foot ailments that are likely extremely painful, they’re still forced to give rides and perform demeaning tricks in front of jeering crowds under threat of punishment.

“Isa and Viola have spent more than five decades chained up in parking lots and transport trucks and forced to toil day after grueling day to make money for the circus,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on John Webb to stop bankrolling their exploitation and make the Sharon Shrine Circus animal-free, as so many other Shrine circuses have done.”

The Sharon Shrine Circus—which is among the last remaining shows that still use wild animals—routinely partners with notoriously cruel exhibitors, including Carson & Barnes Circus, which has been cited for more than 100 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and whose head trainer was caught on video shocking elephants with electric prods and attacking them with bullhooks—weapons resembling a fireplace poker with a sharp hook on one end.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Webb follows.

September 17, 2024

John Webb

Potentate

Sharon Shrine

Dear Mr. Webb:

I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) following your recent direct contact with two suffering geriatric elephants, Isa and Viola, who were forced to perform in this year’s Sharon Shrine Circus. When you interacted with these exploited animals, you likely didn’t know anything about them as individuals. But after you learn about their abductions from their families and decades of imprisonment, I hope you will carefully consider their sad existence, stop perpetuating this abuse, and make your circus animal-free.

When you were a toddler in the late 1960s playing with toys and spending time with family, baby elephants Isa and Viola were being captured from their homes in Asia. They were violently torn away from their families by animal dealers who packed them into crates and shipped them around the world, even though their mothers likely tried everything they could to save them. As you began school and made friends, their spirits were likely broken like those of other baby elephants used in circuses through prolonged chaining, violent beatings, and food deprivation.

At 59 years old, you’ve experienced many of life’s milestones, including getting married, having children, and retiring. Isa and Viola have spent much of that time chained up in parking lots, transport trucks, and concrete-block barns. They’ve experienced ongoing age-related foot and joint problems, yet they’re still being forced to perform. These elephants will never have the opportunity to stop toiling until circuses like yours stop paying for their exploitation.

This spring while you were preparing for your circus, Viola made a break for freedom from a circus in Butte, Montana. This was at least her third attempt to escape from her abusers. On two occasions, she was injured as she fled through the streets, including once when she and Isa escaped from the Moolah Shrine Circus in Missouri. That circus later stopped using elephants. If Isa and Viola were at an accredited sanctuary, they wouldn’t be forced to remain in conditions that hurt and terrify them. Instead, Carson & Barnes Circus has condemned them to a life of fear and pain.

It’s never too late to do the right thing. I urge you to consider the stark differences between your last five decades of life and theirs and then make the decision to stop using all animals in the Sharon Shrine Circus.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman

Executive Vice President