EmailDefinitely keep animals OUT OF THE CIRCUS! Wild animals do not belong in hot, non-ventilated boxcars, or chained 23 hours a day, beaten with bullhooks until they bleed, or caged in quarters so small they can barely turn around. It's pitiful and I have documented the result of those bullhook "guides" (what a joke) on tape, not to mention the hundreds of others as well.
They were just here in Dallas and even one of the security people witnessed a beating during the day when there was no show. They cover up the abcesses and boils with Wonder Dust, a grey powder that blends in with their skin. I caught one on tape they forgot to cover inside the thigh of one of the elehants, and numerous lumps and bumps that were covered on every single elephant. The tool of torture, the "extention of the trainer's arm" they claim (my arm doesn't have a hook at the end, does yours?) is a standard across the board practice to keep elephants terrified and submissive. Electric prods are also used with them, but they don't leave wounds. Their lives are miserable. Only 23 of the elephants Ringling uses were born in captivity (their "conservation" program); the rest were captured from the wild and torn from their families. I cannot imagine a more cruel life. Plus, many of the elephants have a human strain of TB, totally antibiotic resistant, that endangers anyone who comes into close contact with them, like children riding them, workers (one of them died as a result of it already) and the people at the "preshow". There are more sophisticated ways to be entertained than watching wild animals be reduced to cowering creatures performing stupid and demeaning "tricks".
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