Written by PETA
The following is a guest post from blogger and former Ringling clown André du Broc
I've spent much of my life in careers centered around making others happy. As an actor, I believed that my first responsibility was to the audience. They needed to be delighted and engaged by everything that I did on stage. This was particularly true of my time as a circus clown. If an audience's joy depended on my dropping my pants, I dropped my pants. If it meant taking a pie in the face three times a day, so be it. Many may have thought that these actions were undignified. I saw it as doing my job well. It brought me great satisfaction to see families sitting together in a crowded stadium and smiling from ear to ear.
Every Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey show begins with the ringmaster's announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Children of all ages!"
I love that thought. From the beginning of the show, the audience is told to leave adulthood at the door. Be a kid again. Laugh. Smile. Enjoy!
The veneer of the circus was everything I desired in a career. It was a chance to make masses of people happy, a chance to travel all over, and an opportunity to take my silliness very seriously. What I found backstage, however, was very different. My goal is not to write an exposé of everything that happened backstage at Ringling. My former work as a circus clown has carried me far and opened a lot of doors for me over the years, and for that I am very grateful. But there was a world behind the curtain that I was not equipped to handle.
Audiences come to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth ("Big Bertha" to circus folks) primarily to see two things—clowns and elephants.
I spent most of my time with the elephants. In Tampa, I had a roommate who was an elephant trainer for a local zoo, so I had a deep fondness for these massive animals. If you look into the eyes of an elephant, you can't help but remark at their soulfulness. They are filled with expression. When an elephant is happy, you can tell at a glance. Back in Tampa, when the elephants were allowed to play in the water, their eyes would twinkle, their bodies would waddle, and their trunks would curl up, pulling their large mouths into an unmistakable smile. They looked like they were having fun. They were happy.
I never saw the elephants in the circus make that face. They looked tired, weary, frustrated, angry, and so very sad. I stopped one of the assistant elephant handlers to ask why a particular elephant had tears pouring down the sides of her face. He laughed, "'Cause she's a bitch and the bitch got what was coming to her." He then pointed to the welt on the side of his face from where she had slapped him with her trunk. He then showed me his bullhook, a 2-foot-long stick with a metal hook on the end that is used to train elephants. "I gave her about 10 good whacks across her skull. Bam! Bam! Bam!" he demonstrated. "Bitch'll think twice before she messes with me." This brutal assistant handler had never received any formal training in dealing with elephants. His job was simply to keep them fed, watered, and in line.
I remember that there was always a bullhook in the corner of the apartment back in Tampa. The metal hook had a blunt, rounded tip. My roommate had explained that it was used to hook the inside of where the mouth and trunk met. You give it a slight tug and the elephant will move in that direction. I witnessed many of the Ringling trainers sitting in circles, sharpening their bullhooks to dangerous points. They wanted the elephants to fear them, and the best way to do that was to inflict as much pain as possible.
Each of these great animals were looking at a lifetime of being chained to a wall, beaten, and marched out briefly to perform. Unlike those I left in Tampa, they would never roll in the grass or enjoy playing in the water.
The largest of the elephants, King Tusk, had a particularly sad story. When he first came to Ringling from another circus in 1986, he was the largest traveling land mammal alive. At 42 years old, weighing 14,762 pounds, standing 12 feet 6 inches tall, and sporting a length of 27 feet, King Tusk (Tommy) was a spectacular being. In the wild, elephants are constantly rubbing down their tusks to reduce the weight carried by their head. Tommy, however, had been prohibited from doing so for 42 years, and this had allowed his tusks to grow unacceptably long. In fact, where cracks would form along the tusk, metal bands were installed to keep them from breaking. His tusks were more than 7 feet long and put enormous weight and strain on his back. He had arthritis in his neck and back, and by the time I joined the circus in 1992, he could no longer perform any tricks.
Instead of retiring this great elephant with dignity and shaving down his tusks so that he could live out his remaining years in comfort, Ringling would have him simply stand in the center ring while two acrobats performed on his back.
Tommy was finally transferred to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in 1998 after spending 51 years of his life performing in circuses. According to Two Tails Ranch's records, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium sent him to live out his remaining years at their elephant facility in Florida, where at 57 years of age he was finally euthanized just before Christmas in 2002.
I am grateful for the experiences that I had in the circus. I learned about who I am as a person, an entertainer, and a clown. I learned so much and had amazing, exciting, and terrific experiences. Most importantly, I learned what dignity means. I filled my steamer trunk with plenty of it as I rolled it out of Clown Alley and away from the Big Top forever.
I will not go to a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey show or any other Feld Entertainment production ever again.
Tommy would have wanted it that way.
André du Broc graduated from Clown College in the fall of 1992 and went on the road with Ringling's blue unit in late October. He left the circus about a month later because he could no longer bear to witness the horrific treatment and living conditions of the animals. André maintains a blog at toomanycookies.wordpress.com.
Looks like somebody over at The Onion has been surfing the PETA Files. Catch the satirical newspaper's spot-on skewering of elephant acts, with descriptions of a "hooked rod," "cramped, feces-covered enclosure," and "constant beatings." They even picked up on the fact that the only male elephants used in circuses are youngsters, because once they reach adolescence, they become too aggressive to be controlled—despite the constant threat of being whacked with a bullhook (or, perhaps, because of it).
As usual, The Onion's parody so closely parallels reality that it can bring tears of laughter and sorrow. Take this gem:
"Look, they're dancing," said 5-year-old Jonah Meeks, mistaking the elephants' constant swaying for something that wasn't a maladaptive behavior caused by serious psychological trauma. "I can dance like an elephant, too. Look at me!"
The folks at The Onion obviously do their research, but is it possible that they are also psychic? Their circus send-up was published just days before peta2 launched its brand new "Elephants Never Forget" campaign today. Coincidence?
Written by Alisa Mullins
Yeah, I subscribe to Maxim because the mag always features my favorite things: gaming, Web sites, and überhot babes like Olivia Munn, whose sizzling anti-circus billboard is wowing 'em at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Los Angeles.
Olivia was recently crowned Number Eight in Maxim's annual list of the 100 Sexiest Women. And for those of you who forgot to TiVo her attack on the abuse of animals in circuses during G4s Attack of the Show, I thought I'd share the clip:
What's more attractive than someone who cares about animals? Um, not much, and I have it on pretty good authority that Maxim's editorial staff will back me up on this. Gorgeous PETA supporters routinely make the mag's top 100 list.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
My sister has always written letters and signed petitions about animal issues, but all it took for her to become a full-out anti-circus campaigner was for me to bring home a bullhook from the PETA office for her to see and touch. The sheer ugly menace of this standard elephant training tool really hit her (not literally!). As she put it, "The thought of elephants getting beaten and hooked with this sadistic weapon makes me sick."
Seasoned activists are already familiar with these heavy, metal-tipped, fireplace poker–like devices, which circuses like Ringling use to break elephants and keep them afraid to move an inch without permission. And now you have a chance to get your hooks on one. Leave a comment telling us how having a real bullhook would help you educate people about the abuse of elephants in circuses, and you'll be in the running to win one to use in your local campaigns and anti-circus demonstrations!
The person who leaves the most motivated comment will win this ghastly weapon for his or her own show-and-tell educational efforts. The contest ends on May 14, 2010, and we'll announce the winner on May 18, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by submitting. And please remember, let our Action Team know when the circus is coming to your area so that we can work together to plan a demonstration and get the word out.
Good luck!
Oh, Canada … today we sing the praises of Marystown, Newfoundland, which recently put out a stop sign for cruel animal acts by joining dozens of other cities and banning acts that use exotic animals.
Marystown reportedly banned the use of animals for human entertainment because its residents fear that animals in circuses are being mistreated. It sounds like someone on the City Council got ahold of PETA's recent undercover investigation, which documented that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus handlers whipped tigers and hit elephants over and over with bullhooks.
Forward-thinking Marystown Mayor Sam Synard even acknowledged that forcing animals into artificial environments causes them "irreparable harm." To thank Mayor Synard, we sent him a letter today (and I'm sure the elephants and tigers would have signed it, too, if they had opposable thumbs).
If you haven't seen the spectacular Cirque du Soleil or any of the other amazing animal-free circuses, what in the world are you waiting for?
I think that even the most die-hard Star Wars convention attendees will agree with me on this: The au natural pose struck by smokin' hot actor and host of G4's Attack of the Show! Olivia Munn in PETA's newest anti-circus ad rivals her infamous Princess Leia photo in sex appeal. Elephants belong in their natural environment, not in the circus, so check out these photos of Olivia as she unveils her stripped-down billboard in L.A. and try to disagree with me that natural is the way to be.
If you live in Southern California, check out the billboard at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
Olivia, who rightfully calls the abuse of animals in the circus "sickening," was brought to tears watching video footage of elephants who were hit with metal-tipped bullhooks at the Ringling Bros. Circus.
If everyone who goes to see Olivia in her upcoming film—a modest production called Iron Man 2—joins her in boycotting the circus, we'll be one step closer to stopping the suffering for good.
Notorious animal abusers might rethink a visit to Norfolk, Virginia—home of the world's largest animal rights organization (PETA!). When Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus rolls its elephant-beating act into town, our Norfolk office holds a lively and unmissable protest to make it known that the animal circus isn't welcome here—or anywhere! Check out yesterday's great turnout from PETA's opening-night demo. We'll be at every show to cheer the plummeting attendance figures. Please take a second to speak up for the animals who suffer for the saddest show on earth by urging the USDA to revoke Ringling's exhibitor license.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
After an elephant who was being used in a Shrine-sponsored circus killed an animal groom in Pennsylvania recently, people asked how such a thing could happen. Circus spokespeople claimed that the elephant had been spooked by a live electrical wire.
Hmm. The same question arose when Tilly, an orca living in a cramped tank at SeaWorld, attacked and killed a trainer. SeaWorld said all sorts of things, such as that maybe Tilly was just playing! Now, check out this mind-boggling video from China, and it's abundantly clear: To captive animals, some humans are hated, and some are just food. As for the hated, who can blame the animals? Chains, sharp metal bullhooks, whips, small cages, loss of freedom—it's a dangerous mix.
We watched this frightened toddler walk a tightrope over a pit filled with stressed-out tigers and steeled ourselves for the worst.
Captivity doesn't make a wild animal's natural instincts disappear. Is it any surprise, then, when animals who have been beaten, battered, and broken respond accordingly?
Via Perez Hilton
PETA pal Pink recently tweeted that she had "… the BESTest day" with her "amazing sexy hubby," Carey Hart, riding around on beach cruisers and watching the circus. Not to worry, though—our girl Pink would never attend the kind of circus that tears baby elephants away from their mothers and beats them with bullhooks. Pink's tweet continued: "Not the real circus people. No animals, just people. That look and behave like animals. On acid. Tis' a colorful world." We should all take a cue from this compassionate couple and support one of the many circuses that leave animals in peace and feature only amazingly talented—and, most importantly, willing—human performers!
Via Vegetarian Star
In a bid to stop Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's reign of terror over animals once and for all by getting the circus's exhibitor's license revoked, PETA has submitted more than 700 pages of evidence to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) documenting not only Ringling's long history of violating the federal Animal Welfare Act but also the circus's attempts to cover up the circumstances surrounding animals' deaths.
Just one of many examples is Riccardo, a baby elephant whose fatal fall off a pedestal during a training session (he was euthanized after breaking both hind legs) Ringling originally tried to characterize as "routine play." Another example is Clyde, a lion who died of heat stroke after being confined to a sweltering boxcar in Ringling's animal train while it crossed the Mojave Desert in 109-degree heat. A former trainer told PETA that Ringling tampered with the evidence by installing a non-working water misting system in the boxcar after Clyde died and warned him to not talk about the the circumstances of Clyde's death.
And then there are the hours of video that PETA amassed last year—which show Ringling handlers as they beat elephants in city after city across the country—as well as the damning photos taken by a former elephant trainer that show baby elephants as they are "broken" with ropes, bullhooks, and electric prods.
We think that all this adds up to several hundred pretty good reasons for the USDA to yank Ringling's license. If you agree, please take a minute to drop the agency a line.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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