Big Top Bullies! Shrine Circus Cruelty to Draw Massive ‘Crying Elephant’ to Independence
For Immediate Release:
November 19, 2024
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
On Thursday, a herd of PETA supporters will deploy a 20-foot-tall, bloodied, and crying “elephant” while holding signs reading, “Shrine Circuses Abuse Animals” outside the Ararat Shrine Circus at Cable Dahmer Arena. The unmissable plea is a push for the Ararat Shrine to modernize by keeping elephants and other exploited animals out of its shows, just as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and other circuses are now doing.
“Abuse takes center stage at the Ararat Shrine Circus, where elderly elephants and other exploited animals are tormented into performing demeaning tricks in front of rowdy crowds,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the Ararat Shrine Circus to get with the times and end these archaic and cruel animal acts, as numerous other Shrines have already done.”
Where: Outside Cable Dahmer Arena at the intersection of E. Valley View Parkway and S. Ehrhart Drive, Independence
When: Thursday, November 21, 6 p.m.
Why: In nature, elephants live in matriarchal herds, protect one another, and share mothering responsibilities for the herds’ babies. Video footage shows the head trainer for Carson & Barnes Circus—which frequently provides elephant acts for the Ararat Shrine Circus, despite having been cited for more than 100 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act—instructing trainers to sink sharp, steel-tipped bullhooks into elephants’ flesh and twist them until the animals scream. One of those elephants, Becky, has been forced to perform at the Ararat Shrine Circus in recent years—as has Viola, an elderly elephant who recently escaped from another show and ran panicked through the streets in Butte, Montana.
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 PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
