'Golden Girl' Rue McClanahan Calls on Rep. McCarter to Keep Tuberculosis-Exposed Elephants Out of Oklahoma

For Immediate Release:
June 15, 2005

Contact:
Michael McGraw 757-622-7382

Oklahoma native Rue McClanahan doesn’t want to see sick elephants in the Sooner state. The honorary PETA director has fired off a letter to State Representative Raymond McCarter, urging him to introduce an emergency resolution against the importation of elephants who have been exposed to tuberculosis—a highly contagious disease that poses a risk to the public and to other captive elephants—into Oklahoma. The letter comes on the heels of the decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to permit the Richmond, Ill.-based Hawthorn Corporation to send four elephants to Carson & Barnes Circus’ "Endangered Ark Foundation" in Hugo, Okla.

In her letter, McClanahan asks that the elephants be moved to the spacious 2,700-acre Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, which has already received three of Hawthorn’s elephants and is prepared to take all of the remaining females in September, following the completion of a new barn.

McClanahan is also worried about the elephants’ future treatment at the Carson & Barnes compound. Carson & Barnes has been cited repeatedly for noncompliance with the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), including failure to provide veterinary care and improper maintenance of elephant transport trailers, resulting in accidents and injuries to elephants. A PETA undercover investigator caught high level Carson & Barnes official Tim Frisco on tape viciously attacking elephants with a bullhook and shocking them with an electric prod while urging other trainers to "hurt ’em" and "make ’em scream." That footage previously prompted McClanahan to work with Rep. McCarter to introduce legislation making cruel elephant-training practices a felony.

"These elephants have been subjected to physical abuse and neglect for many years," writes McClanahan in her letter to Rep. McCarter. "Please protect the state’s wildlife and residents and help the Hawthorn elephants spend the rest of their lives in peace by refusing to allow them into Oklahoma."

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