Will Shrine Circuses End Use of Poorly Pachyderms? PETA Offers to Pay to Replace Elderly Elephants with Life-Size Animatronic
For Immediate Release:
November 18, 2025
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Since some Shrines are still having elderly, disabled elephants hauled from town to town to be forced to perform in their circuses—including Betty, called the most depressed elephant in the world—PETA today sent a letter to Shriners International Imperial Potentate Brad Koehn with a mech-nificent offer: End the use of animals in Shrine circuses, as other circuses have done, and PETA will donate a spectacular, life-size robot elephant to take their place.
PETA has plenty of experience designing and deploying these mechanical marvels—its talking robot elephant Ellie travels the country delighting children with her stories, and PETA India recently donated its 16th mechanical elephant to replace live elephants in temple rituals, including with the help of two-time 2025 Grammy nominee Anoushka Shankar.
A stunning, life-size mechanical elephant donated to a temple by PETA India. Photo: PETA India
“Ringling Bros. dropped its animal acts years ago, but Shrine circuses are still paying exhibitors to chain and prod elephants and truck them around like furniture,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges Shriners International to accept our offer of an expensive, mechanical elephant, which would provide all the thrills with none of the cruelty.”
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 Koehn follows.
November 18, 2025
Brad T. Koehn, Imperial Potentate
Shriners International
Dear Mr. Koehn:
I’m writing on behalf of PETA with an offer that will allow you to lead with compassion and innovation by saying goodbye to using real elephants in Shrine circuses and going elephatronic. If Shriners International commits to banning the use of animals in all Shrine circuses, we’ll provide you with a state-of-the-art robotic elephant—a mechanical marvel you could send out to Shrine clubs nationwide for use in their circuses, which would protect animals and save money that would otherwise be spent on hiring cruel animal exhibitors.
PETA has a robotic elephant named Ellie, who delights children across the country, and PETA India recently donated its 16th mechanical elephant to perform safe, animal-friendly temple rituals. Here’s what we have in mind for the first-ever Shriners International elefriend:
This change can’t wait. Every elephant used in Shrine circuses is elderly, like Betty—the most depressed elephant in the world—who has been worked toward her grave for more than 50 years. Her trunk is apparently partially paralyzed, likely thanks to decades of being forced to stand on her head. She’s lost all the light in her eyes, something much easier to fix for a mechanical elephant than a real, living, feeling one.
Please show children everywhere how to be of good character by doing what’s right. Together, we can create a new spectacle—an animal-free one that inspires awe and reflects the heart of what Shriners truly stand for. I look forward to hearing that you’ll choose to end the use of animals in Shrine circuses.
Sincerely,
Tracy Reiman
President
