India Shrine Circus’s Upcoming Performance Violates City Code, PETA Asserts

For Immediate Release:
March 24, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Because the India Shrine Circus is set to perform in Oklahoma City later this month—despite a City Code prohibiting the exploitation of animals—PETA this morning sent a letter to Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt and City Manager Craig Freeman urging them to bar the circus’s animal acts from performing. PETA points out that Oklahoma City Code § 8-111 states, “[i]t shall be unlawful for any person to promote, conduct or permit exploitive animal contests, performances, or exhibitions in which animals are encouraged, forced, or trained to perform unnaturally […]”

At the Oklahoma City performance, India Shrine Circus is expected to use elderly elephants supplied by the notorious Carson and Barnes Circus, which has been cited for more than 100 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. Video footage shows the head trainer for Carson & Barnes Circus instructing trainers to sink sharp, steel-tipped bullhooks into elephants’ flesh and twist them until the animals scream.

“Forcing elderly elephants with stiff joints and lameness to do painful tricks under threat of punishment shows that India Shrine will stop at nothing to profit off an animal’s pain, and it’s explicitly prohibited in Oklahoma City,” says PETA Foundation Senior Director of Captive Wildlife Debbie Metzler. “PETA is calling on officials to do their jobs, obey the law, and bar this circus from dragging suffering wild animals across city limits.”

PETA previously contacted Oklahoma City Animal Control and the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds, which is hosting the circus, requesting that they cancel the animal acts in light of city code—to no response.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Holt and Freeman follows.

March 24, 2025

David Holt

Mayor of Oklahoma City

Craig Freeman

City Manager

Dear Mayor Holt and City Manager Freeman,

I’m writing on behalf of PETA and its more than 6.5 million members and supporters to request again that Oklahoma City enforce its laws and prohibit the India Shrine Circus from unlawfully forcing wild animals to perform unnatural tricks when it performs there this month.

As you know, Oklahoma City prohibits the exploitation of animals. City Code § 8-111 states unequivocally, “[i]t shall be unlawful for any person to promote, conduct or permit exploitive animal contests, performances, or exhibitions in which animals are encouraged, forced, or trained to perform unnaturally . . . .” Allowing India Shrine Circus to force wild animals to perform tricks runs afoul of the law.

The India Shrine Circus has frequently exploited elephants, camels, tigers, and other animals who are forced to give rides and perform unnatural and painful stunts such as balancing on small pedestals and jumping through hoops of fire, all under the threat of whips or bull hooks. At its upcoming event in Oklahoma City, the India Shrine Circus is likely to exploit geriatric elephants supplied by the Carson & Barnes Circus (Carson & Barnes), an outfit that has been cited more than 100 times for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and is notorious for its abusive training practices. In eyewitness footage of a training session, Carson & Barnes’s head trainer strikes an elephant with a bull hook to “make ‘em scream” in pain.

To date, the city’s staff leadership has expressed no interest in enforcing the law. PETA has received no acknowledgment of repeated attempts to discuss the matter with animal control.

Refusal to enforce the law could have serious consequences for Oklahoma City’s citizens, as dangerous incidents with elephants and tigers in captivity have resulted in dozens of human deaths and catastrophic injuries. Carson & Barnes has a history of such incidents, including one in which an elephant stomped a worker to death. Carson & Barnes also has a long history of violating the federal Animal Welfare Act, including failing to provide an elephant who had lost 8.7% of her body weight over a period of seven or eight months with proper veterinary care.

The law in Oklahoma City is clear: Conducting exploitive, unnatural animal performances is prohibited. If the city wouldn’t let its taxpaying citizens violate the law, it shouldn’t permit an out-of-town circus to flout it either. PETA hopes the city will notify India Shrine Circus that it intends to enforce its ordinance. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Can you please confirm that India Shrine Circus has been informed of the ordinance and that it will not be permitted to force animals to perform? Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Very truly yours,

Willow Hecht, M.Sc.

Assistant Manager of Captive Wildlife

Captive Animal Law Enforcement