PETA Statement re OSHA Recommendation Against Deadly Hope Elephants Practices

For Immediate Release:
March 13, 2015

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

“The Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s recommendation to Hope Elephants that workers not be in the same space as elephants should be a wake-up call to all facilities holding elephants. Hope Elephants co-founder James Laurita would be alive today if Hope Elephants had—like all accredited sanctuaries and reputable zoos—adopted a protected-contact system of management, in which elephants and humans are always separated by a protective barrier. Roadside zoos and circuses that continue to handle elephants in direct contact—a system that involves prodding elephants on the most sensitive parts of their bodies with a weapon called a bullhook, which resembles a fireplace poker with a sharp metal hook on one end—are putting their employees’ lives in danger every day.”

—Delcianna Winders, Deputy General Counsel for The PETA Foundation