 A PETA undercover investigator has documented Carson & Barnes Circus “animal care” director Tim Frisco attacking, screaming obscenities at and electro-shocking endangered Asian elephants. In the video, Frisco tells would-be elephant trainers that they must hurt elephants until they scream—and then shows exactly how to do it. As horrifying as the images of the terrified elephants are, the vicious abuse they suffer has been standard in the circus industry for decades. Frisco and his two brothers learned the trade from their father, Joe Frisco, who has spent a lifetime “training” elephants, initially for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, a circus with a shameful record of elephant care that includes beatings, unexplained deaths and repeated violations of animal protection laws.
This transcript of the secret video shows the nightmarish life of elephants in circuses:
Frisco to would-be elephant trainer: “Tear that foot off! Sink it [sharp, metal bullhook] in the foot! Tear it off!
Make ’em scream!”
Frisco to elephant: “Becky!
Becky!! You motherf---er!” Frisco attacks Becky. Becky recoils and screams.
Frisco to trainers: “Don’t touch ’em—hurt ’em. Hurt ’em. Don’t touch ’em—make ’em scream. If you’re scared to hurt ’em, don’t come in the barn. When I say rip his head off [and] rip his f---ing foot off, it’s very important that you do it. When he starts squirming too f---ing much, both f---ing hands—BOOM!—right under the chin!” Frisco swings the bullhook like a baseball bat.
“When he f---s around too much, you f---ing sink that hook and give it everything you got.” Frisco demonstrates by twisting the bullhook back and forth. “Sink that hook into ’em. When you hear that screaming, then you know you got their attention.”
Frisco explains that abuse must be kept secret: “Right here in the barn.
You can’t do it on the road. I’m not gonna touch her in front of a thousand people. She’s gonna f---ing do what I want, and that’s just f---ing the way it is. Make ’em holler, let ’em run from ya.”
“Don’t touch ’em—hurt ’em. Hurt ’em. Don’t touch ’em—make ’em scream.…Tear that foot off! Sink it in the foot! Tear it off! Make ’em scream!”
—Tim Frisco, elephant trainer
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Later, Frisco jabs at elephants with prods that deliver painful electric shocks, and a handler uses a blowtorch to burn hair from the elephants’ skin—skin so sensitive that the elephants can feel the touch of a fly.
A former elephant trainer reviewed the video and commented, “All elephants used in circuses are trained in this fashion. The elephants are conditioned through physical pain and mental intimidation that they must obey commands.”
The video also shows elephants in their winter quarters in Oklahoma chained by the foot and neck in a cold, dank shed, unable even to move a few feet to find comfort in each other’s warmth, they sway back and forth endlessly, trying to cope with the loneliness, boredom and discomfort.
Training Methods Kill
Frisco’s elephant-training methods may have contributed to the death of a 27-year-old Asian elephant named Janet. While performing with the Great American Circus in Palm Bay, Florida, in 1992, Janet ran amok with five children on her back. She injured 12 people and threw a man to the ground before being shot many times and killed by police. These rampages are elephants’ way of rebelling against a life of abuse and deprivation. Tim Frisco was Janet’s trainer.
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Fight back against circus bullies
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 • Contact PETA’s Literature Department for a copy of the video, and visit Circuses.com for a copy of all our factsheets. Please show this article and the video to anyone who can help spread the word—school teachers, newspaper editors, television reporters and service organizations who might be considering sponsoring animal circuses in your community.
• Ask the USDA to charge Carson & Barnes with violating the Animal Welfare Act, which states, “Physical abuse shall not be used to train, work or otherwise handle animals.” Write to:
Chester Gipson
Acting Deputy Administrator
USDA-APHIS
4700 River Rd., Unit 84
Riverdale, MD 20737-1234
Fax: 301-734-4993
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Record of Abuse
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A bear reaches hopelessly from the tiny prison cage.
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Government inspectors have cited Carson & Barnes for failure to provide veterinary care, shelter from the elements and cages that meet minimum space requirements, for unsound fencing that failed to protect both spectators and the animals, for rusty animal cages, for giving animals unclean water and for failure to keep records of animal care. When the circus and its traveling zoo performed in Colorado, a humane investigator reported snakes in overcrowded cages, elephants with soccer ball-size boils and a hippo without access to water. “This is the worst case of neglect I have seen in my 12 years as an officer,” she said. “I watched animals become injured with blood dripping down their legs without being treated. There were ponies and horses with open, draining saddle sores that were still being ridden.”
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