Ringling Baby Killers—Fact vs. Fiction
Ringling: “The fact is the birth and survival rates of Asian elephants born at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation Center rivals [sic] the best programs in North America.”

Reality: Ringling rarely discloses elephant deaths and failed breeding efforts. With at least 24 elephant deaths since 1992, the elephants in Ringling's custody are actually dying at a faster rate than they are being born. Furthermore, four of the births that Ringling takes credit for occurred at Busch Gardens, not at Ringling's Elephant Conservation Center; these elephants belonged to Roman Schmitt. Also, a male calf either died in utero or was stillborn on May 22, 1996, and his mother, Seetna, was euthanized the same day because of a difficult labor.

Ringling: “Asha and Rudy are lively, inquisitive young elephants that will join the circus next year. As the two elephants become acclimated to their new surroundings, herd and routine, they are periodically tethered while also given plenty of time for exercise and play.”

Reality: Ringling put its 2-year-old elephant Gunther, along with 6-year-old Doc, on the road traveling with the Hometown Edition during its 2004 season. Both elephants are already showing alarming signs of stereotypic behavior—Gunther is bobbing his head and Doc sways from side to side. According to Wild Mammals in Captivity: Principles and Techniques, a reference manual for zoo professionals, “Stereotypies are clearly an indication of an abnormal animal-environment interaction. For most wild mammals in captivity, this probably means that the animal grew up in or is currently living in an environment suboptimal for meeting its natural, species-specific behavioral needs.” Other baby elephants are destined to experience the same deprived lifestyle that has caused Gunther, Doc, and so many other Ringling elephants to become neurotic and dysfunctional.

Ringling: “The tethering of elephants as [sic] an acceptable elephant management practice by the American Zoological and Aquarium Association (AZA) and other leading animal organizations.”

Reality: Ringling fails to comply with even the basic husbandry practices in the AZA Standards for Elephant Management and Care, which recommends that elephants not be subjected to prolonged chaining because it is harmful to an elephant's health and well-being. Because elephants are shackled for lengthy periods and forced to perform physically strenuous and behaviorally unnatural tricks, it is not surprising that U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection reports dated September 11, 1998; October 7, 1998; and December 9, 1998, revealed that numerous elephants were suffering from lameness and painful arthritis. In fact, several Ringling elephants have been euthanized because of arthritis, and a Ringling elephant as young as 16 years of age has been diagnosed with this debilitating condition.

Ringling: “The video of Riccardo's birth actually gives a touching glimpse of some of the extraordinary efforts that our animal staff took to save and support this calf. Because his mother rejected him at birth, Riccardo, if in the wild, would have mostly [sic] died within hours of his birth.”

Reality: It is unheard of for elephants in the wild to kill or reject their newborns. But studies do show that social deprivation during infancy leads to deficits later in life—and elephants born into the Ringling life are always socially deprived. Ringling prematurely separates baby elephants from their mothers, and Shirley, Riccardo's mother, was not only too young to reproduce but was herself born into an impoverished social environment. In 1998, when Shirley was only 3 years old, she was already on the road performing with the circus, robbed of an essential stage in her development. When one considers Shirley's immature age, the atmosphere that prevented her from learning maternal skills, the interference of Ringling staff during the birthing process, and the absence of more experienced mothers to help and guide Shirley, it is no wonder that she was incapable of caring for Riccardo.

Furthermore, Riccardo would not even have been born in the wild, because female elephants do not naturally breed until they are in their late teens. Even if he had been born in the wild, it is highly unlikely that he would have been rejected, because the more knowledgeable females in the herd would have served as surrogate mothers. With five other elephants born at Ringling since 2001, circus personnel should have been able to find a nursing mother to adopt Riccardo if Shirley was unable to care for him. But Ringling routinely pulls unweaned infants from their mothers, so these five mothers were probably no longer producing milk.

Ringling: “In his eight months of life Riccardo was lavished with love and expert veterinary care. Unfortunately, it is believed that an underlying physiological disorder led to the irreparable fractures that necessitated his euthanasia.”

Reality: The circumstances surrounding Riccardo's death point to Ringling's cavalier disregard for elephant welfare. Ringling destroyed Riccardo on August 5, 2004, after he sustained severe and irreparable fractures to both hind legs when he fell from “a round platform 19 inches high,” which is otherwise called a circus pedestal or circus tub. According to Riccardo's necropsy report, “We suspect metabolic bone disease. … A nutritional imbalance is suspected as being the underlying cause.” Elephant calves who are weaned or separated from their mothers at an early age often start showing symptoms of bone disorders and seldom survive.

Riccardo, apparently engaged in a training exercise, was on a training tub that was too big for such a small elephant. Being forced to perform hind-leg stands or other physically difficult circus tricks would have further stressed his already fragile bones and may have contributed to his ultimately fatal fall from a dangerously high platform.

Ringling: “Shirley, herself born into the Ringling Bros. breeding program, was able to conceive and give birth at a younger age than most Asian elephants in the wild because of better nutrition, veterinary care and advanced animal husbandry.”

Reality: Imagine a human child, still playing with dolls, being thrust into pregnancy and motherhood. This sickening scenario is essentially what Ringling did to Shirley. While elephants, just like humans, are capable of reproducing at a young age, it is important that they be emotionally prepared to care for their offspring. In its selfish zeal to produce more “performers,” Ringling ignored this critical fact.

Ringling: “The activists showed a video from 1999 of the drowning of Benjamin that was confirmed as accidental by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and outside veterinary experts. Benjamin's death was a tragedy for everyone a [sic] Ringling Bros., but particularly for his trainer who loved him like a son.”

Reality: Two Ringling-controlled factors contributed to Benjamin's death. First, he was on the road performing at age 3. Prematurely separated from his mother, he never had an opportunity to learn how to swim. Second, he was terrified of bullhooks, and with good reason. Benjamin moved to deeper water and drowned because a trainer was poking and prodding him with a bullhook. No one who genuinely cares for elephants would ever threaten an elephant with a bullhook.

Ringling: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that Ringling Bros.' actions did not contribute to Kenny's tragic and unexpected death. Contrary to activist assertions, Kenny did not perform on the evening he died of an acute bacterial infection.”

Reality: According to the USDA's Animal Welfare Act Docket No. 98-0020 filed against Ringling, “On two separate occasions on January 24, 1998, the respondent failed to handle a juvenile Asian elephant known as ‘Kenny’ as expeditiously and carefully as possible in a manner that did not cause behavioral stress and unnecessary discomfort, in that, after determining that the elephant was ill and needed to be examined by a veterinarian, respondent made the elephant perform before it had been examined by a veterinarian, in willful violation of sections 2.100(a) and 2.131(a)1 of the regulations.” Ringling paid a $20,000 fine to settle the charges.

Ringling: “The video of the inappropriate treatment of Angelica is an example of how animal activists put their staged media campaigns ahead of the welfare of animals. Ringling Bros. was unable to take disciplinary action against the handler because by the time we learned of the incident he had already left our employment. Most importantly, Angelica was unfazed and unharmed. Despite PETA's emotional rhetoric, both Angelica and another CEC success story Doc are both [sic] healthy, robust and well adjusted young elephants.”

Reality: Deborah Fahrenbruck, an animal behaviorist and veterinary technician for Ringling, viewed the August 2004 video of the beating of Angelica shortly after it was taken and, incredibly, stated that she saw no evidence of abuse. The “inappropriate treatment” of baby elephants on other occasions has been carried out by Troy Metzler, who is still with Ringling! As far back as August 2000, Metzler was videotaped abusing elephants, including babies, with steel-tipped bullhooks. In fact, circus staff members have given Metzler the nickname “Captain Hook” because of his frequent and aggressive use of the bullhook. Instead of being fired, Metzler, who joined the circus in 1988, has been the main elephant presenter on the blue unit since 2000.

While Ringling officials claim that Angelica did not sustain injuries during the August 2004 beating, they are missing the point. Using physical abuse to train, work, or otherwise handle animals is not only cruel, it is also a violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act. The circus should be penalized for what an elephant expert described as clear abuse.

Ringling: “According to conservation experts, captive breeding programs, like Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Center for Elephant Conservation, must play a necessary role in saving the Asian elephant.”

Reality: To claim that its few dozen emotionally scarred, arthritic elephants scattered across the United States in boxcars, a breeding compound, and a tuberculosis-infected retirement center have any relevance whatsoever to dwindling populations of Asian elephants is a gross overstatement. Elephants are threatened with extinction because of loss of habitat, poaching for ivory, and capturing to supply zoos and circuses. Because none of Ringling's elephants can ever be returned to the wild, the circus's captive breeding plays no role in saving Asian elephants. Additionally, 57 of the approximately 62 elephants owned by Ringling in 1990 were captured in the wild. The circus has not successfully bred a larger number of elephants than it has removed from wild populations.
 

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