PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has been after Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus lately for its treatment of animals, especially elephants.
Last July, the organization released photos of employees striking the elephants with bull hooks. These photos, taken by an elephant trainer while inside the Florida training center for Ringling Bros., also showed baby elephants screaming and struggling as they are taken away from their mothers.
PETA director Debbie Leahy said that by releasing the photos, she hoped that people would “stay away from Ringling and all other traveling animal acts that take baby elephants away from their loving mothers and put them in chains for life.”
To help spread the word of abuse, PETA commissioned Harry Bliss to design a sculpture of a shackled baby elephant, named Ella PhantzPeril. The inscription on the sculpture reads “See Shackles, Bullhooks, Loneliness – All Under the Big Top.” This week, the sculpture is on display at an Atlanta intersection as the circus will be arriving there in less than a week.
PETA has also stopped Neumann University from offering discounted circus tickets to its alumni. PETA criticized the University for offering the discounted tickets, saying it was not in keeping with the university’s “founding principles of respect and concern for others.”
PETA’s circus specialist (they seriously have one of those?) Meg Grigorian pointed out that as a Franciscan founded university, she found it troubling that the university would support a company that abused animals. PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman agreed, saying “What would St. Francis of Assisi — the patron saint of animals – say?” The university is run by the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.
Alumni Association spokesman Steve Bell said the organization is in the process of ending its sponsorship of the circus, agreeing that the sponsorship was contrary to its values.
What do you think about PETA’s actions? Are they justified in their actions against certain companies and organizations?
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