Dodge City–Bound Shrine Circus Exhibitor Fined $25K for Animal Welfare Violations

Multiple PETA Complaints Precede Penalty for Exotic-Animal Exhibitor With History of Elephant Escapes

For Immediate Release:
January 31, 2012

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Dodge City, Kansas -- Following a series of complaints made by PETA to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the agency has fined Doug Terranova—an animal exhibitor with a long history of animal welfare violations who will perform with the Shrine Circus in Dodge City from February 3 to 5—$25,000 for numerous grave violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including for willful failure to safely handle elephants, tigers, and camels. In one incident, an elephant used by Terranova escaped from a circus in Oklahoma and ran onto the highway, where she was hit by a vehicle and suffered a fractured carpal bone, a broken tusk, abrasions, and other injuries.

"Doug Terranova has shown time and time again that he is incapable of keeping elephants, tigers, and other animals from serious harm," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "PETA wants Dodge City residents to know that buying a ticket to the Shrine Circus will support this reckless cruelty to animals."

Terranova's many violations of the Animal Welfare Act include the following:

• In 2008, the USDA confiscated a tiger cub from Terranova after two other tiger cubs died in his care at the Iowa State Fair and Terranova failed to provide the surviving cub with an appropriate diet.
• In addition to the elephant Kamba's 2009 escape and subsequent injury, she and another elephant, Congo, escaped from a circus in Kansas in 2008. They were loose for hours before they were recaptured. PETA filed USDA complaints after both incidents.

In 2010, the Dallas Zoo purchased Kamba and Congo and controversially hired Terranova to care for them. Amid controversy surrounding the USDA's pending enforcement action, Terranova resigned from his post last year.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.