PETA's New Billboard Broadcasts Cruelty Under the Big Top

PETA’s attention-grabbing new anti-circus billboard showing an elephant who died of heatstroke when the temperature inside her circus trailer soared above 120°F was designed to coincide with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ arrival in Virginia and other states along the circus tour route.

The elephant pictured on the billboard was traveling with one of Ringling’s rivals when she died of heat prostration, but Ringling has also been caught “turning up the heat” on its animals. The circus has been cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for failure to provide adequate care and drinking water to several tigers whose stifling transport container reached temperatures that placed the cats in “immediate danger.”

Ringling Bros.’ Laundry List of Animal Welfare Act Violations
The USDA has also cited Ringling for causing “unnecessary trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm, and discomfort” to two baby elephants who incurred 6-inch lesions on their legs when they were dragged, crying and struggling, from their mothers.

Ringling Bros. Cruelty

Government reports show that Ringling paid $20,000 for forcing a baby elephant named Kenny to perform even though a veterinarian said that he “should not go in the show.” He died just hours after his third appearance in the ring in one day.

Ringling officials also took a baby elephant named Benjamin away from his mother before she could teach him to swim. He drowned while fleeing from a handler who was prodding his sensitive skin with a sharp metal bullhook.

Ringling Bros. was slapped with a “strong letter of warning” by the USDA for killing Arnie, an endangered Bengal tiger who, while locked in his cage, was blasted with a shotgun five times by an angry trainer.

The list goes on and on. A horse used in the circus despite a chronic medical condition collapsed and died during a circus parade, and a wild-caught sea lion was found dead in her transport container, and more. Click here to read more about Ringling’s animal deaths and USDA citations, investigations, penalties, and warnings.

Cruel Tools of the Trade
Circus trainers use heavy metal-spiked bullhooks, whips, muzzles, and electric-shock prods to force animals to perform stressful and often painful acts. Click here to see shocking undercover footage of a typical elephant training session.

Help Stop Circus Cruelty
You can help animals like Heather, the elephant pictured on our billboard, simply by refusing to go to the circus and asking others not to support the circus.

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