From The Stranger and relevant to Elephant's Graveyard

PETA's Show Goes On
Posted by Unpaid Intern on Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 12:36 PM
By news intern Garrett McCulloch

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals drew the usual mix of eye rolls, middle fingers and supportive car horns as they protested the Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus's visit to the ShoWare Center in Kent yesterday.

PETA recently gathered undercover footage showing Ringling Bros. trainers repeatedly hitting elephants backstage. They appear to be using a bullhook, a three-foot stick tipped with a sharp steel hook, hitting and prodding the elephants. Looking at the footage, it appears pretty damning.

"This abuse goes on behind the scenes, backstage, where the public never sees it," says Lisa Wathne, a captive exotic animal specialist with PETA. "I think too many people when they see the elephants perform in the ring don't realize it is the result of abuse."

A lawsuit pending in federal court alleges the same kind of abuse shown in PETA's video. And it's not the first time the circus has found itself in legal trouble. A trainer was tried on criminal animal abuse charges in 2001 for alleged use of a bullhook (he was acquitted), and Ringling Bros. has been sued for cruelty numerous times, once being ordered to pay animal-rights groups $20,000. "I think we're going to be in good shape," says Nancy Pennington, an activist who also works to release elephants from Woodland Park Zoo. "If the judgment goes against Ringling, that will effectively shut down the circus." Of course, the sort of abuse that looks offensive to humans—using bullhooks—may not constitute animal abuse, particularly considering courts have ruled against PETA in the past.

Read more at:

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/09/04/petas-show-goes-on

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