Carson & Barnes Trainer Videotaped Beating, Shocking Elephants

For Immediate Release:
November 12, 2009

Contact:
RaeLeann Smith 757-622-7382

Baytown, Texas -- Today, PETA sent a letter to Baytown Mayor Stephen H. DonCarlos and the City Council urging them to enact legislation that would ban the use of bullhooks, electric prods, and other devices commonly used to inflict pain on elephants. PETA's request comes in light of Carson & Barnes Circus' scheduled November 20 visit to Baytown. Carson & Barnes is a chronic violator of the federal Animal Welfare Act, and its animal-care director has been caught on videotape viciously attacking elephants with bullhooks and electric prods. PETA points out that similar legislation is already pending in Chicago and has requested to meet with Mayor DonCarlos and the City Council to discuss making next week's Carson & Barnes performances the last occasions in which these instruments are used against elephants in Baytown.

PETA's letter was accompanied by video footage, which shows Carson & Barnes' animal-care director, Tim Frisco, repeatedly attacking elephants with steel-tipped bullhooks and shocking them with electric prods as the animals scream and recoil in pain. "Tear that foot off! Tear it off! Make 'em scream!" Frisco instructs trainers. "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." The undercover video footage reveals standard elephant-training practices used by the circus industry.

"Bullhooks are cruel weapons of the circus trade that are routinely used to beat elephants into submission," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "Mayor DonCarlos and the City Council must send circuses the message that these instruments of abuse will not be permitted in Baytown."

Video footage of elephant beatings can be seen on PETA's Web site Circuses.com.

PETA's letter to Baytown Mayor Stephen H. DonCarlos and the City Council follows.

November 12, 2009

The Honorable Stephen H. DonCarlos
Mayor of Baytown
Baytown City Council

Dear Mayor DonCarlos and Councilmembers:

PETA is the world's largest animal rights organization, with more than 2 million members and supporters dedicated to animal protection. We have obtained video footage documenting elephant abuse at the Carson & Barnes Circus, which, according to the circus's Web site, is scheduled to perform in Baytown beginning November 20, 2009. Although legislation cannot be enacted in time for these upcoming performances, would you please consider a ban on bullhooks and other cruel devices in order to protect elephants in circuses that visit your city in the future?

Undercover video footage shows Carson & Barnes animal care director Tim Frisco viciously attacking terrified elephants with bullhooks--instruments with sharp metal hooks and tips that resemble a fireplace poker--and electric prods. Frisco instructs other trainers to hurt the elephants until they scream and to sink a bullhook into their flesh and twist it. Frisco also cautions that the beatings must be concealed from the public. A U.S. District Court judge described this video as "troubling" and noted that it depicts conduct that violates the federal Animal Welfare Act.

The use of bullhooks results in pain, suffering, and trauma, often including lacerations, puncture wounds, and abscesses. Although elephants' skin appears tough, it is so sensitive that elephants can feel the pain of an insect bite. Trainers embed the hooks into the elephants' skin and soft tissue areas. Bullhook abuse is routine at circuses, but penalties are rare. Elephants will not be afforded more humane care until communities prohibit these cruel devices.

An elephant's ability to feel pain--as well as sorrow, joy, and happiness--rivals our own. In circuses, every instinct is subject to discipline and animals live a sad life of punishment and confinement. Elephants who reach for a blade of grass suffer a painful blow from a bullhook. A fumbled trick during the show often results in a beating.
 
We hope you agree that the abuse of animals in circuses is unacceptable. Please make this year's Carson & Barnes visit the last time that elephants will have to endure the bite of a bullhook in Baytown. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

RaeLeann Smith
Circus and Government Affairs Specialist