Circus Video of ‘Country’s Saddest Bear’ Goes Viral

For Immediate Release:
March 1, 2017

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

A PETA video showing a bear urinating on herself in apparent distress during a circus performance has quickly garnered more than 4 million views on Facebook.

This video footage was filmed by an audience member at the February 18 performance of the Tangier Shrine Circus outside Omaha, Nebraska. A bear expert who watched this footage noted that the loud music and noisy crowd at a circus performance are inherently stressful to the bears and that the one in the video urinated both when pulled by a leash and when forced to walk on her hind legs—an indication of immediate distress. PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—has asked federal authorities to investigate the exhibitor that provided the bears, called on the circus not to use exotic-animal acts ever again, and offered to transfer the bears to a reputable sanctuary.

More information about the “country’s saddest bear” is available here.