PETA Statement About Ringling’s Return

For Immediate Release:
October 22, 2021

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Palmetto, Fla. –

Following news first heard in 2020 that Ringling Bros. circus is coming back, PETA wrote to Chief Operating Officer Juliette Feld Grossman, urging her to proceed without animals—and it appears that she listened. Below, please find a statement from PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Rachel Mathews in response to Ringling’s animal-free circus, slated to appear in 2023:

Ringling is back, but this time, PETA may just be in attendance, because the company has abandoned the chains, cages, and whips in favor of hiring only human performers—who are allowed to go home to their families at night. The animal-free version of Ringling may well inspire any remaining animal-abusing circuses to let aerialists, jugglers, clowns, and other talented human performers shine under the big top.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. More information about Ringling’s former facility is available here.