PETA's New Philly Billboard: Baby Elephant Tied Down, Beaten, and Given Electric Shocks

Whistleblower Photos Reveal Circus's Cruel Elephant-Training Methods 

For Immediate Release:
February 11, 2010

Contact:
David Perle 757-622-7382

Philadelphia -- If a picture is worth a thousand words, then PETA's new billboard--which depicts bullhook-toting handlers threatening a baby elephant who is tied down by all four legs--speaks volumes about how elephants suffer at the hands of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. As the circus rolls into Philadelphia, PETA is debuting a billboard and bus ads that expose Ringling's violent methods for training baby elephants--methods such as shocking them with electric prods and using metal-pronged bullhooks to terrorize them into submission. This training takes place in secret at the circus's private training compound in Florida.

A retired Ringling elephant trainer who had regrets about his career provided PETA with dozens of never-before-seen photographs that show the circus's routine abuse of baby elephants. These fear-based and abusive training methods have contributed to the deaths of two baby elephants: One fled his bullhook-wielding trainer and drowned in a pond, and the other broke both hind legs after falling from a training pedestal. Other baby elephants have also died at Ringling's facilities.

"Anyone who sees the heartbreaking photos will never doubt that Ringling abuses elephants," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "We're hoping to persuade parents that if their kids love animals, the last place that they should take them is the circus."

For more information and to view the photos, please visit PETA's Web site RinglingBeatsAnimals.com.