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Secret Life Star Asks Home Province to Support Elephant-Friendly Legislation
For Immediate Release:September 21, 2012
Contact:Wendy Wegner 202-483-7382
Toronto -- Ontario native Megan Park chooses to perform in ABC Family's hit series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, but elephants who are used in circuses aren't given a choice: They are beaten into submission. That's why on Thursday, Park—who is in Toronto filming The F Word, also starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan—took time out of her busy schedule to hand-deliver a letter to Ontario's Parliament on behalf of PETA and Zoocheck Canada to urge legislators to support Bill 69—The Elephant Protection Act—which bans elephant handlers from using electric prods, bullhooks, or similar devices to "shock, poke, strike, hit, stab, pierce or pinch the skin of an elephant" and severely curtails the use of chains and ropes to restrain elephants. Photos of Park delivering her letter are available here, and broadcast-quality video footage can be downloaded here.
"As a proud lifelong Ontarian and supporter of PETA and Zoocheck Canada, I am writing to respectfully urge you to support Bill 69," writes Park. "Make no mistake: There is no other use for a bullhook than to inflict corporal punishment or memories of severe beatings in order to intimidate elephants into performing. … Elephants deserve our respect, kindness, and protection."
In the letter (available here), Park explains how circuses such as Ringling Bros. beat elephants repeatedly and maliciously with bullhooks. PETA's undercover video footage shows elephant handlers beating, jabbing, and hooking elephants with bullhooks when they thought that no one was watching. PETA has also obtained photographs of Ringling employees slamming baby elephants to the ground, tying them down, and beating them with bullhooks to force them into submission.
Park joins a long list of celebrities—including Olivia Munn, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kellan Lutz, Alec Baldwin, and Sarah Silverman—who have helped PETA raise awareness about abuses of animals in circuses.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.