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Join IDA to Protest Ringling Bros. Circus' Abuse of Elephants

Join IDA to Protest Ringling Bros. Circus' Abuse of Elephants

The tide is turning against businesses that seek to profit from animal suffering, like Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, whose business model and brand are entrenched with abuse and exploitation of animals. In Ringling’s case, beating, abusing, and intimidating elephants is of paramount importance because it’s the only way elephants will perform the ridiculous and dangerous circus acts Ringling demands.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Ringling an unprecedented $270,000 to settle charges of welfare violations—the largest fine ever assessed against an animal exhibitor. Evidence submitted included court testimony, undercover videos, and documentation of abusive training exercises involving elephant calves proving that:

-Ringling separates baby elephants from their mothers for violent training that includes prolonged restraint and physical punishment with bullhooks, which are steel rods similar to fireplace pokers used to control the elephants and force them to perform unnatural tricks.

-Ringling routinely chains elephants in train boxcars for more than 26 hours at a time, and for as long as 60 to 100 hours without a break while traveling across the country for weeks at a time.

-Ringling routinely prods, hooks, and strikes elephants with bullhooks.

Ringling has already received notice that their business practices involving elephants are not welcome in Los Angeles. Starting January 2017, bullhooks, baseball bats, pitchforks, or other types of weapons, tools, or objects to intimidate elephants will be prohibited. Many other cities are working on similar bans.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Please join with IDA in continuing to keep the pressure on by taking the steps below:

  1.  Contact Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Tell them to update their business model and leave elephants and other animals out of their shows.
  2. Check Ringling’s Tour Schedule to see if there are performances in your area. If there are, please contact IDA’s Melissa Gonzalez to be put in touch with the event coordinator in your area, or to get assistance in becoming an event coordinator yourself. melissa@idausa.org, 415.448.0048, Ext. 205.
  3. Join IDA in educating the public at several upcoming Ringling Bros. Circus performances in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, California and Portland, Oregon.

If you are in the Los Angeles area, please show up for one of the biggest circus protests ever to be held on earth:

When: Wednesday, July 9, 2014, 5:30-8 pm
Where: Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California 90015 (Meet at the intersection of Figueroa Street and Chick Hearn Court). Posters and leaflets will be provided.

To RSVP or for any questions about this event, please contact IDA’s Melissa Gonzalez at melissa@idausa.org or 415.448.0048, Ext. 205

For any questions about what you can do to help end the use of animals in any circus, please contact Melissa at melissa@idausa.org or 415.448.0048 Ext. 205

 

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