Protesters to Crash Ringling's Brooklyn 'Elephant Dance Party,' Opening Night Show

Parents Will Be Given DVDs Showing Routine Animal Beatings in Circus

For Immediate Release:
March 19, 2013

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

New York -- Armed with signs that read, "Ringling Beats Animals," PETA members will crash Ringling Bros.' "Elephant Dance Party" in DUMBO at 11 a.m. Wednesday morning and give parents DVDs of PETA's video exposé narrated by Alec Baldwin, which shows how Ringling routinely beats and torments elephants.

When:   Wednesday, March 20, 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. 

Where:  At the intersection of Old Fulton and Water streets in DUMBO and outside the Barclays Center, 620 Atlantic Ave. (near the intersection with Sixth Avenue), Brooklyn

Later that evening, a record number of protesters—including some dressed as elephants—will gather at Barclays Center to target Ringling's opening night performance. Members of PETA, In Defense of Animals, Animal Defenders International, Caring Activists Against Fur, and Long Island Orchestrating for Nature will display blown-up photos of Ringling trainers as they stretch out baby elephants, slam them to the ground, shock them with electric prods, and strike them with sharp steel-tipped bullhooks.

"Beating and whipping elephants—including babies—into submission is anything but a party," says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. "PETA is telling New Yorkers that if their children and grandchildren love animals, the last place that they should take them is the circus."

In late 2011, Ringling Bros. paid the largest fine in circus history—$270,000—for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently opened a formal investigation into Ringling for further violations.

For more information, please visit PETA's website RinglingBeatsAnimals.com.