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As former Ringling Brothers employees have described, there is a culture of abuse at the circus that includes the constant use of bull hooks and other weapons on the elephants and keeping the elephants chained for most of their lives.
While Ringling Brothers touts
its successful breeding program as the answer to the declining
population of elephants in the wild, in recent years at
least four of Ringling Brothers’ young elephants have
died: Kenny, Benjamin, Ricardo, and Bertha.
In January 1998, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) charged Ringling
Brothers with multiple violations of the Animal Welfare
Act in connection with its decision to have a three-year
old elephant named Kenny appear in three different shows
in one day even though he was extremely ill and the attending
veterinarian had advised that he “remain in the barn.”
Within an hour of his last appearance in the circus, Kenny
died.
In January 1999, USDA inspectors
observed “large visible lesions” on the legs
of two baby elephants less than two years old -- Doc and
Angelica. According to Ringling Brothers own personnel,
the wounds resulted from the “routine separation process”
that Ringling Brothers uses to separate baby elephants from
their mothers at its “Center for Elephant Conservation”
– i.e., with the use of ropes around the baby
elephants’ legs, they force the nursing elephants
away from their mothers, so they can start “training”
them for use in the circus. The USDA concluded
that this practice caused the animals “trauma, behavioral
stress, physical harm and unnecessary discomfort.”
On July 26, 1999, a four-year
old elephant named Benjamin died in a pond. Ringling
Brothers elephant trainer Pat Harned took Benjamin and Shirley
– two baby elephants – to swim in a pond one
morning while the circus was on the road. Elephants are
naturally excellent swimmers and both babies loved the opportunity
to play in the water. When Pat Harned called for Shirley
to come out of the water she obeyed, but when he told Benjamin
to come out, he refused and kept on swimming. Eye witness
accounts reported that Pat Harned then went to the end of
the pier and started hitting Benjamin with a bull hook,
and that when Benjamin swam to the other end of the pond
to escape, Harned went into the water after him with the
bull hook in hand. Benjamin then had a heart attack and
drowned. According to an official USDA Report,
the trainer’s use of the bull hook “created
behavioral stress and trauma which precipitated in the physical
harm and ultimate death of the animal.”
On August 5, 2004, an eight-month
old elephant named Ricardo died at Ringling Brother’s
breeding facility – the Center for Elephant Conservation.
Ringling Brothers claims that this young elephant “fell”
off a tub while playing, broke both his legs, and had to
be euthanized. These same “tubs” are used for
many of the tricks the elephants are made to perform in
the circus – and it is likely that Ricardo was being
trained to do these tricks (with a bull hook) when he “fell.”
On August 11, 2005, an eleven-day
old elephant named Bertha died during surgery on the floor
of Ringling Brother’s breeding facility. In sharp
contrast to its usual practice, Ringling Brothers had not
announced the birth of Bertha – and her existence
and death only came to light when animal groups submitted
requests under the Freedom of Information Act to the USDA
about Ringling.
Although these are numerous
eye-witness accounts and video tapes of Ringling’s
routine mistreatment of elephants, spanning many years,
some of the most recent incidents include:
Spring/ Summer 2006:
Before a crowd of Ringling Brothers’ employees, one
of the head elephant trainers on the Red Unit beat an elephant
for over twenty minutes, at one point using two bull hooks
on the elephant until she was bleeding. Two former
Ringling Brothers employees who witnessed this beating are
now speaking up about the abuse they witnessed at the circus.
For more information click here Former Ringling
Brothers Employees Speak Out
Summer 2006: Two Ringling Brothers elephants at the breeding facility in Florida tested positive for tuberculosis and the facility was placed under a partial quarantine by government officials.
Summer 2005: A baby elephant named Bertha died during surgery at Ringling Brothers’ breeding facility.
2004: An activist
caught on tape a Ringling Brothers elephant handler beating
a young elephant named Angelica.
2000:
Video footage taken in San Francisco, California at Cow
Palace shows Blue Unit head elephant trainer Troy Metzler
striking a young elephant on the trunk, other handlers hitting
elephants with bull hooks and brooms, pinching them with
pliers, and brandishing their bull hooks in front of the
elephants.
August 25, 2001:
A San Jose Police Officer cited Ringling Brothers’
trainer Mark Oliver Gebel, son of legendary Ringling trainer
Gunther Gebel-Williams, with violating California animal
abuse laws by striking an elephant with a bull hook. The
Officer reported that Gebel “lunged at the elephant
with his ankus,” before taking her into a performance.
Immediately after the performance, the Officer and two Santa
Clara Valley Humane agents reported that the elephant had
a bloody spot on her leg where she had been jabbed with
the ankus. Gebel was later found "not guilty"
of animal cruelty by a Santa Clara jury.
March 2000:
Tom Rider, who worked as a barn man for Ringling Brothers
for 2-1/2 years, left the circus. In sworn testimony presented
to the USDA, Mr. Rider reported that the elephants were
chained for as long as 23 hours a day, and that Ringling
Brothers routinely beats and hits the elephants, including
the babies, with bullhooks. Mr. Rider reported that, at
one point, he counted more than a dozen bullhook wounds
on each of two older elephants, “Zeena” and
“Rebecca.” Click here to read Tom Rider's USDA
Affidavit.
February 1999:
While conducting an unannounced inspection at the Ringling
Brothers’ “Center for Elephant Conservation”
in Florida, inspectors for the U.S. Department of Agriculture
observed “large visible lesions” on the rear legs of two baby elephants, Doc and Angelica.
These lesions were approximately 6 inches long and an inch
wide. When the inspectors inquired about these wounds, they
were informed by Ringling Brothers employees that they were
caused by rope burns during the “routine” separation
process from the babies’ mothers. They were further
informed that the babies, who were only 18 months old, had
been forcibly dragged away from their mothers a month earlier,
with the use of ropes around each leg and a chain around
their necks. After convening a panel of elephant
experts, in May 1999 the USDA informed Ringling Brothers
that this treatment violates the Animal Welfare Act and
causes the animals “trauma, behavioral stress, physical
harm and unnecessary discomfort.”
August 1999: Inspectors for the Santa Clara Valley Humane Society in San Jose California reported seven Ringling Brothers elephants with multiple lacerations and puncture wounds behind their left ears – the location where former Ringling Brothers employees say elephants are routinely hit with bull hooks. Another humane officer who attended each of the performances that week reported “that some of the elephants had punctures and lacerations on various areas of their bodies, which included the foreleg, trunk, and behind the left ear.”
December 1998: Two Ringling Brothers’ employees, Glenn Ewell and James Strechon, quit Ringling Brothers. In sworn testimony provided to the USDA, they reported that elephants were chained for most of the day, and that Ringling Brothers’ handlers and trainers severely beat and hook elephants with bull hooks on the head, ears, ankles, and other parts of their bodies, and that they often draw blood. Both men also testified that they saw the baby “Benjamin” severely beaten many times. The men also reported that at least one particularly severe beating of an older elephant took place in front of a high-level Ringling Brothers manager, who did nothing to stop it.
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