| LOS ANGELES
- July 14 - The following was released
today by the Animal Protection Institute:
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be met upon arrival
in Los Angeles with 30 billboards around Los Angeles which show a
photograph of elephants in chains with the headline, "The Cruelest
Show on Earth." The billboards, sponsored by the Animal Protection
Institute and the Performing Animal Welfare Society also encourage
people to, "Say NO to Animal Circuses." Locations are available upon
request.
Ringling Bros. opens in Long Beach on July 19. We anticipate
strong media coverage of Ringling Bros. Circus and urge reporters to
include the views of animal advocates in their coverage.
Facts about Ringling Bros. Circus:
-- May 1999 -- Ringling Bros. was warned by the Animal Care
Division of the USDA for using ropes to forcibly remove two young
elephants, Doc and Angelica, from their mothers. Visible scars were
left on the legs of the young elephants.
-- July 1999 - Benjamin, a four-year-old elephant mysteriously
drowned while on a stopover from Houston to Dallas, TX.
-- August 1999 - Animal cruelty charges were sought against Ringling
Bros.
by the San Jose police and the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley
for
cuts and puncture wounds found on seven Asian elephants.
-- June 2000 - A former Ringling Bros. employee testified before
the U.S. Congress that elephants in the circus "live in confinement
and ... are beaten all the time when they don't perform properly."
"When you buy a ticket to the circus, the animals pay the price.
People mistakenly believe that animals aren't mistreated in larger
circuses like Ringling Bros.," said Dena Jones, Program Director for
the Sacramento-based Animal Protection Institute. "Unnatural living
conditions, brutal training methods, and a stressful life of travel
are common to all circuses, regardless of size. We're placing the
billboards to remind people that the only humane circuses are those
that don't use animals."
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