For Immediate Release:
July 6, 2004

Contact:
Brandi Valladolid 757-622-7382   

Houston — Wearing nothing but shackles and covered in "scars" and "bruises" as a result of violent "beatings"—an everyday reality for animals in circuses—Annie Judah, a tall, curvy brunette, will protest the arrival of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus with a banner that reads, "Shackled, Lonely, Beaten," and directs onlookers to PETA’s Web site Circuses.com. The protest is a live reenactment of a PETA billboard ad featuring Australian supermodel Imogen Bailey that was banned in cities across the country. Some activists will show footage of elephant beatings on "body screen" TVs, while others pass out leaflets:

Date: Wednesday, July 7
Time: 12 noon sharp
Place: Intersection of Capital and Milam streets, in front of Chase Tower

In order to force wild animals to perform stressful and often painful acts, trainers use a veritable arsenal of cruel devices, including metal bullhooks, whips, muzzles, and electric prods. PETA has obtained shocking undercover video footage—some of which has been used to develop a public service announcement (PSA)—of elephants beaten with bullhooks and screamed at by a circus trainer. The violent training methods shown in the video are commonly used in circuses, including Ringling, which regularly issues false statements to the media that its animals are well treated. Ringling is a chronic violator of the federal Animal Welfare Act and has an abysmal history of deaths of animals in its care, particularly during a recent two-year period:

* Two baby elephants died at Ringling. One was forced to perform despite being visibly ill—a violation that cost the circus nearly $20,000 in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture—and the other drowned while being chased by a trainer wielding a bullhook.
* A horse known to be suffering from a chronic condition collapsed and died during Ringling’s animal march in Norfolk, Va.
* A tiger was shot dead while locked in his cage by a Ringling trainer.
* A wild-caught sea lion was discovered dead in her small transport cage.

"This cruelty, these beatings are what the circus is desperately trying to hide," says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "These animals are not volunteers. They have been deprived of their precious freedom and beaten for a lifetime of cheap tricks."

For more information, visit PETA’s Web site Circuses.com. PETA’s PSA showing elephants being beaten by circus trainers is available upon request.