Live-Tweeting of Circus Highlights Cruelty Under the Bright Lights

Published by PETA.

Ringling Bros. circus got quite a shock at its opening-night performance in Bakersfield, California, when PETA was in the audience live-tweeting the performance in order to help circusgoers look beyond the spectacle and bright lights and remember that the tricks they paid to see animals perform are possible only after breaking baby elephants’ spirits by binding and beating them and “training” big cats by hitting them with sticks.

Ringling goes to great lengths to hide the cruelty that it inflicts on animals—such as using Wonder Dust, a gray powder, to conceal bloody bullhook wounds on elephants. But thanks to social media, it’s getting harder and harder for Ringling to hide its abuse.

Here’s what we found:

https://twitter.com/peta/status/507715031417380864

https://twitter.com/peta/status/507718305298538496

https://twitter.com/peta/status/507721965616910336

https://twitter.com/peta/status/507739294849454080

https://twitter.com/peta/status/507755282257018880

https://twitter.com/peta/status/507757566802161665

What You Can Do

Please help PETA remind people that baby elephants are beaten and bound in order to train them to perform tricks by sharing this exposé on Facebook. And never attend a circus that uses animals.

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Ingrid E. Newkirk

“Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights?” READ MORE

— Ingrid E. Newkirk, PETA President and co-author of Animalkind

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