Will Abused Elephant With History of Escapes Run Amok on Nacogdoches Streets? PETA to Alert Families to Shrine Circus Danger
For Immediate Release:
February 19, 2026
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
An elephant who ran panicked through the streets of Butte, Montana, is headed to Nacogdoches. Viola, the “Most Desperate Elephant in the World,” has attempted to escape from her abusers at least four times—but that hasn’t stopped the Sharon Shrine Circus from forcing this 56-year-old elephant to perform at the Nacogdoches County Exposition & Civic Center on Saturday. PETA supporters will gather outside the circus’s performances with a 20-foot-tall “crying elephant” and a giant banner proclaiming, “Free Viola: Beaten and Chained for Circuses” to urge Sharon Shrine Circus to go animal-free—for the animals’ safety and the public’s.
Viola was taken from her home and family in Asia as a baby and has spent five decades in chains under the notorious Carson & Barnes Circus—which supplies elephants to the Sharon Shrine Circus—and is forced to perform grueling and painful tricks in shows, even while suffering from chronically swollen feet and other painful, debilitating ailments.
“While some people run away to join the circus, Viola the elephant keeps trying to run away from the circus, where she’s spent a lifetime suffering in chains and servitude,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the Sharon Shrine to end these archaic and cruel animal acts, and for everyone to stay away until they do.”
Where: Outside the Nacogdoches County Exposition & Civic Center, 3805 NW Stallings Dr. (near the main entrance), Nacogdoches
When: Saturday, February 21, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
To amp up the pressure on Sharon Shrine Circus to drop its cruel elephant acts and go animal-free, a PETA video plea—featuring a former Shriners Children’s spokeschild—is streaming on local TVs through Saturday. 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.”
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 has 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.
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.
