Cloris Leachman Appeals to Seniors: Please Don’t Take Grandkids to the Circus

The 92-Year-Old Stars in Video Exposé of Arthritic Elephants Still Forced to Perform in Circuses

For Immediate Release:
July 2, 2018

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

“I want to talk to you about old people and elephants. As it turns out, we have a lot more in common with them than wrinkles,” says Cloris Leachman in her PETA video, which reveals how elephants used in the circus suffer from a variety of ailments—including arthritis—and are forced to perform despite their ill health.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show star explains that even though Ringling Bros. circus is no more, elephants—such as those exhibited by Carson & Barnes Circus which has been cited for more than 100 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act—are still being kept in heavy chains, forced to stand for days on hard surfaces, and prodded and beaten into performing painful tricks that are meaningless to them. Conditions such as these can cause foot problems and arthritis, which can be deadly for elephants.

Leachman concludes, “Elephants in the circus suffer in silence, but we can speak up. Please join me in urging your family and friends to skip any circus that uses elephants.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that Ringling Bros. circus went out of business last year citing the public’s changing attitude toward its use of animals, and numerous cities, including New York; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and San Francisco have recently passed bans on traveling wild-animal acts.

Leachman is part of an ever-growing list of stars—including Alec Baldwin, Chilli, Demi Moore, Olivia Munn, P!nk, Iggy Pop, and Wilmer Valderrama—who have joined with PETA in condemning circuses that use wild animals.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.