Three women wearing little more than gray bodypaint and shackles stood outside the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., to call out Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for forcing elephants to perform for another three years. Ringling has conceded that the public no longer approves of treating intelligent, social elephants like wind-up toys, and the company has stated that it will phase out its elephant performances by 2018.
Ringling was recently caught denying adequate veterinary care to suffering elephants—and possibly leaving them chained inside boxcars for up to four days at a time. There’s no justifiable reason to force elephants to perform even one more trick. Ringling should end all its elephant acts right now.
What You Can Do
Elephants can’t wait another three years. Urge Ringling to stop cruel elephant acts now!
