For Immediate Release: November 30, 2005

Contacts: Mercy For Animals 866-MFA-Ohio

DEATHS OF RINGLING ANIMALS SPUR PROTEST IN COLUMBUS

Parents, Kids Urged to Boycott Cruel Circus

Columbus, OH — In the wake of the recent deaths of a lion and an 8-month-old elephant used by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, members of the animal advocacy organization Mercy For Animals (MFA) will greet attendees of the circus, waving signs declaring, “Ringling Tortures Animals,” and backed by a banner reading, “Circus Animals are Beaten, Shocked, and Chained.” An activist wearing an electronic “body screen” TV will show shocking undercover video footage of behind-the-scenes circus cruelty.

Date: Thursday, December 1

Time: 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Location: Nationwide Arena, 200 W. Nationwide Blvd.

Ringling animals continue to die as a result of egregious neglect or downright abuse, and would-be circusgoers are shocked to learn the details of the circus’s cruelty, including the following:

On August 5, 2004, Ringling killed an 8-month-old elephant named Riccardo—who was afflicted with a bone disorder—after he fractured both hind legs when he fell off a circus pedestal.

On July 13, 2004, a 2-year-old lion named Clyde died, apparently of heatstroke, while traveling through the intense heat of the Mojave Desert in a poorly ventilated boxcar.

In 1999, Benjamin, a 4-year-old baby elephant, drowned in a pond as he tried to move away from a trainer who was threatening him with a bullhook.

In 1998, Ringling paid $20,000 to settle U.S. Department of Agriculture charges of failing to provide veterinary care to Kenny, a 2-year-old elephant who was forced to perform while sick.

The USDA has three open investigations into Ringling for the deaths of Clyde and Riccardo and for a videotape taken last August, described by an elephant expert as clear abuse, which shows a handler hitting and jabbing a 7-year-old elephant with a bullhook.

In order to force wild animals to perform stressful and often painful acts, trainers use metal bullhooks, whips, muzzles, and electric prods. Shocking undercover video footage shows elephants being beaten with bullhooks by a circus trainer. The violent training methods shown in the video are commonly used in circuses, including Ringling, which is a chronic violator of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

“The circus deprives animals of their basic needs to exercise, roam, socialize, forage, and play,” says MFA Director Nathan Runkle. “They are denied their precious freedoms for a few cheap tricks. Compassionate consumers should support only animal-free circuses.”