ViNull/cc by 2.0 Tennessee officials agreed with PETA that the Knoxville Zoo should be penalized for allowing handlers to come into direct contact with elephants and has recommended $8,400 in fines in connection with the death of a handler earlier this year. Since the attack, the zoo has switched to a safer and more humane … Read more »
Queenie, an Asian elephant who spent her entire life in captivity, has died at Georgia’s Wild Adventures Water and Theme Park at age 59. Queenie was only 6 months old when her owner began training her to water ski—yes, water ski—at a Florida theme park. For 15 years in the ’50s and ’60s, Queenie performed … Read more »
I’ve got some great news and some not-so-great news. The great news is that the Toronto Zoo has heeded the call of animal defenders, including Bob Barker, and decided to close its elephant display, joining more than a dozen other zoos that have done the same thing. What’s more, the Toronto Zoo has agreed that … Read more »
Video footage just released by Animal Defenders International shows trainers with Have Trunk Will Travel—the company that provides elephants for rides at the Santa Ana Zoo—as they strike elephants with sharp metal-tipped bullhooks and shock them with electric prods. PETA has filed multiple complaints against this exhibitor, and we’ve repeatedly urged Santa Ana officials to end the … Read more »
Washington State’s Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is poised to join 14 other U.S. zoos that have closed or are phasing out their elephant exhibits. The zoo is in the middle of discussions about the future of 48-year-old Hanako and 47-year-old Suki, the two female Asian elephants kept in the zoo. tanya_little/cc by 2.0 … Read more »
PETA recently uncovered that an elephant traveling with the Ringling Bros. circus, 42-year-old Karen, has tested positive for tuberculosis and was banned from the state of Tennessee earlier this year. A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has documented the “high prevalence” of tuberculosis among captive elephants, a serious disease … Read more »
After PETA’s “Scummiest CEO of the Year” winner, Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons, bragged about shooting an African elephant and displaying a photograph of himself as he grinned over the body (which was straight out of old African bwana movies), things really started to go south for him. Domain name rival NameCheap offered disgusted Go Daddy customers … Read more »
Earlier this week, we posted undercover video footage taken by London-based Animal Defenders International showing a handler who used a pitchfork and a club to viciously beat an elephant named Annie. When confronted with the video, the elephant’s owner, Bobby Roberts, wisely scrambled to save face by allowing Annie to retire from his “Super Circus” and … Read more »
Undercover footage released by London-based Animal Defenders International shows an elephant handler with the “Super Circus” as he viciously kicks and beats a chained 58-year-old elephant named Annie with a pitchfork and a club. At one point, it appears that the elephant, who was taken from the wild as a child for a lifetime of servitude … Read more »
PETA has asked officials with Tennessee’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health to penalize the Knoxville Zoo for repeatedly allowing handlers to come into direct contact with the elephants there. Handler Stephanie James was crushed to death when an elephant named Edie pushed her into a bar in her enclosure in January. sdixclifford/cc by 2.0 Despite a … Read more »
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s … Steve-O! The vegan comedian and daredevil led a PETA protest outside the Edmonton Valley Zoo to call on zoo officials to allow Lucy, the ailing and lonely elephant at the zoo, to retire to an elephant sanctuary. “I’m sympathetic to Lucy because I know that elephants in their … Read more »
A photojournalist spent days riding through the Burmese jungle on a motorbike in an attempt to capture on film how elephants are “trained” before being smuggled out of Burma and sold into slavery to perform in circuses and street shows in Thailand. Brent Lewin’s prize-winning photograph is leaving viewers horrified in disbelief. During the training session that … Read more »
FaceMePLS/cc by 2.0 Finally—a measure of justice for Tina and Jewel. The U.S. District Court in Beaumont, Texas, has slapped Cole Bros. Circus with a $150,000 fine and four years of probation for illegally selling the two elephants to former employee Wilbur Davenport in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The court also handed Cole Bros. owner … Read more »
… to sunny California. Not content with campaigning to get an ailing elephant named Lucy out of Edmonton’s Valley Zoo, the tireless Bob Barker is now speaking out on behalf of Toka, Iringa, and Thika, the three elephants at the Toronto Zoo. Bob joins Toronto City Councilor Shelley Carroll, who is calling for the elephant … Read more »
You’ve probably never heard of elephant polo, and now that Guinness World Records has agreed to stop documenting records for wins in elephant polo matches, perhaps you never will again. The publishing giant made the move after learning from PETA U.K. that captive elephants forced to perform in such matches in India and Thailand are … Read more »
