Massive ‘Fez of Truth’ Citing Big Top Cruelty to Appear Outside Shrine Circus in Independence
For Immediate Release:
November 18, 2025
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Beginning Thursday, a herd of PETA supporters will deploy a 15-foot-tall “Fez of Truth”—which exposes the animal abuse rampant in Shrine circuses—outside the Ararat Shrine Circus shows happening this weekend at Cable Dahmer Arena. The unmissable plea is a push for the Ararat Shrine to modernize by keeping elephants and other exploited animals out of its shows, just as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and other circuses are now doing.
To drive home the message, a PETA video plea—featuring a former Shriners Children’s spokeschild—will also stream on local TVs through Sunday. In the spot, Juliette Woerman—who became a Shriners patient at the age of 15 after developing severe scoliosis—shares, “For years, I was a patient ambassador for Shriners Children’s Hospital. But then I found out that some Shrine clubs still use wild animals in their circuses, who are forced to perform under the constant threat of violence…Animals feel fear and pain just like us. Parents, please don’t bring your children to circuses that use animals.”
“Children naturally love animals, and if they knew how elephants suffer for the Ararat Shrine Circus, they would never want to attend,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the Ararat Shrine to get with the times and end these archaic and cruel animal acts, and for everyone to stay away until they do.”
Where: Outside Cable Dahmer Arena, next to South Ehrhart Drive and the arena parking lot, Independence
When: Thursday, November 20, beginning at 6 p.m.; Friday, November 21, beginning at 6 p.m.; Saturday, November 22, beginning at 9 a.m.; and Sunday, November 23, beginning at 12 p.m.
Why: In nature, elephants live in matriarchal herds, protect one another, and share mothering responsibilities for the herds’ babies. Video footage shows the head trainer for Carson & Barnes Circus—which frequently provides elephant acts for the Ararat Shrine Circus, despite having been cited for more than 100 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act—instructing trainers to sink sharp, steel-tipped bullhooks into elephants’ flesh and twist them until the animals scream. One of those elephants, Becky, has been forced to perform at the Ararat Shrine Circus in recent years—as has Viola, an elderly elephant who escaped from another show last year and ran panicked through the streets in Butte, Montana.
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.
