Photo Op: Big Top Bullies! Mizpah Shrine to Face Uproar Over Circus Cruelty
For Immediate Release:
January 23, 2026
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Beginning Friday, a herd of local animal advocates from Ban Animal Circuses, holding signs declaring, “Warning: Abused Animals Inside,” will rally in the frigid temperatures outside the Mizpah Shrine Circus shows this weekend at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The urgent appeal is a push for the Shrine to modernize by keeping exploited animals out of its shows, as Ringling Bros. and many other Shrine Circuses have already done.
“Every ticket purchased for the Mizpah Shrine Circus directly supports the abuse and exploitation of wild animals who should be in nature with their families, not forced to perform for human entertainment,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the Mizpah Shriners to end these abusive animal acts, and for everyone to stay away until they do.”
Where: Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, 4000 Parnell Avenue, Fort Wayne
When: Friday, January 23, 6 p.m.
Ban Animal Circuses and PETA supporters will additionally rally outside the circus at all of its other performances in Fort Wayne.
Why: In nature, elephants live in matriarchal herds, protect one another, and share mothering responsibilities for the herds’ babies—but those used in the Mizpah Shrine Circus are beaten, whipped, caged, chained, and forced to perform demeaning and stressful tricks under constant threat of violence, even when they’re elderly and injured. The Mizpah Shrine Circus is among the last remaining shows that still use wild animals, and it routinely partners with notoriously cruel exhibitors, including Carson & 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 instructing trainers to sink sharp, steel-tipped bullhooks into elephants’ flesh and twist them until the animals scream.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—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.
