PETA's Shackled Elephant
Elephant-Statue Lawsuit: July 1 Update
Today, PETA filed a federal lawsuit against the organizers of the
Rochester Animal Scramble event and the city of Rochester for delaying
the placement of its weeping, 12-foot-tall elephant statue, emblazoned
with the inscription, “Step Right Up! See Shackles, Bullhooks,
Loneliness … at the Circus,” at the promised location
outside the Blue Cross Arena until after Ringling Bros. & Barnum
and Bailey Circus had ended its performance run at the arena in
May.
The seven-count complaint, filed in the United States District Court
for the Western District of New York in Rochester, accuses Out Front
Productions, Out Front’s managing partner, Howie Jacobson,
the city of Rochester, and Jeff Calkins, general manager of the
Blue Cross Arena, of violating PETA’s constitutional rights
of free speech, equal protection, and due process, of engaging in
deceptive acts and practices, and of breach of contract. PETA is
seeking compensatory and punitive damages and recovery of its attorneys’
fees.
PETA is taking this battle to court because the delay in placing the
statue at the arena until after Ringling had left town prohibited
PETA from educating circusgoers about Ringling’s “sucker”
statements to the media that its elephants are “well treated.”
In order to force wild animals to perform stressful and often painful
acts, trainers use sharp, metal bullhooks, which they dig into the
sensitive skin behind the animals’ ears and legs, as well as
whips, muzzles, and electric prods, as PETA’s undercover video
footage clearly shows. A PETA investigator obtained footage of elephants’
screaming and recoiling in pain as a longtime circus-elephant trainer
instructs his understudies on how to beat elephants with a sharp instrument
and warns them never to let the public witness the assaults. PETA
also has U.S. government documents showing that Ringling has repeatedly
failed to meet minimum standards for animal care as established by
the federal Animal Welfare Act. One such report shows that Ringling
paid $20,000 to settle charges of failing to provide veterinary care
to a baby elephant.
Click
here to see video footage of a training session for elephants
in the circus. (Warning: explicit language)
You can help stop the suffering of elephants, tigers, and other animals
abused in the name of "entertainment." Click
here to support PETA's vital work.
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