With Tim Burton set to direct the live-action remake of Disney’s Dumbo, PETA sent a letter to the director this morning calling on him to give the film a new ending—one in which Dumbo escapes the confinement and abuse of the entertainment industry and lives out his life in a sanctuary. The letter comes just days after Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that it would be removing all elephant acts from its shows by 2018 as a result of increasing public concern about the animals.
“We’re hopeful that in your adaptation of Dumbo, the young elephant and his mother can have a truly happy ending by living out their lives at a sanctuary instead of continuing to be imprisoned and abused in the entertainment industry,” writes PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange.
In its letter, PETA also thanks Burton for using computer-generated imagery, not live elephants, to portray Dumbo‘s animal characters.
