The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act prohibits false and deceptive advertising, so why does the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus get away with promoting beaten elephants and whipped tigers as the "greatest show on Earth"? In a letter sent to the commission, PETA asks that very question.

Contrary to what Ringling's self-serving PR department says, U.S. Department of Agriculture reports, photographs and video footage prove without a doubt that circus employees strike, stab, jab, hook, prod, beat, and bloody elephants with bullhooks and whip them, chain them, and electro-shock them in order to break the elephants and force them to perform unnatural and painful tricks. 

Right now, for example, three elephants—Sara, Nicole, and Karen—are being forced to perform grueling tricks in Ringling shows despite suffering from painful health ailments, including, in the case of Nicole and Karen, arthritis. Another elephant named Sarah is suffering from what appears to be a serious infection, but Ringling has ignored a veterinarian's orders and Sarah is still being forced to perform night after night.

PETA's FTC complaint is intended to force Ringling to tell the truth. The public can weigh in by refusing to buy a ticket.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

Earlier this week, we posted undercover video footage taken by London-based Animal Defenders International showing a handler who used a pitchfork and a club to viciously beat an elephant named Annie. When confronted with the video, the elephant's owner, Bobby Roberts, wisely scrambled to save face by allowing Annie to retire from his "Super Circus" and spend the rest of her days at Longleat, an 80-acre drive-through safari park in Wiltshire, England.

 
Like most elephants in captivity, 58-year-old Annie suffers from painful arthritis, and her health was too poor for her to perform. Four years ago, PETA offered to pay for Roberts to visit The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, hoping that he would retire Annie there, but Roberts never responded to our offer. Unfortunately, it seems to have taken video footage of a vicious beating to prod him into action.

Meanwhile, PETA U.K. is still urging its members and supporters to e-mail the U.K. animal welfare minister and ask him to push through a bill prohibiting animals from being used in circuses. Here in the U.S., you can help elephants still suffering in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus by e-mailing the USDA and urging it to confiscate the Ringling's abused elephants.

 
Written by Michelle Sherrow

When Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus paraded its 3-ton elephants through the streets of Washington, D.C., the animals might have been surprised to be greeted by one of their own. Well, one of our own, to be exact—a giant inflatable elephant, who grabbed a lot of attention from would-be circus attendees.
 

PETA members protest Ringling cruelty in Washington, D.C.

Kids were enchanted by our elephant and eagerly took copies of our comic book "An Elephant's Life" from PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. Parents stopped to talk to the demonstrators and learned how Ringling tears babies away from their mothers and beats them to force them to learn tricks.

What's that, Ringling? You didn't want people to find out about that part? Oops.

Click here to see how you can help stop Ringling's elephant abuse.

Written by Michelle Sherrow