On opening night, PETA members protested the arrival of Ringling Bros.& Barnum Bailey Circus at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Wearing elephant masks and convict stripes, they stood shackled together displaying their message to hundreds of ticket holders lined out the door.
“Ringling’s history of animal care is riddled with animal death and what we’re doing is bringing that issue to life,” Jason Bayless says, PETA spokesperson and lead circus monitor.
“What we do is follow Ringling around from city to city, and we videotape the elephants during the walk,” Bayless says. “Every time we do that we actually witness some form of abuse.” He explained the animals have to be guided to and from the stage for each four-minute performance while poked, prodded and chained. “Last year, one of the animals had a bloody wound behind its ear during the walk.”
“Elephants are really interesting creatures,” says Penny Nordman, activist. “They have really strong social ties that they never get to be a part of.” One of the PETAphants escaped, but according to PETA circus elephants will never be so lucky.
Here are a few photos. (Photos by Chey Scott)
For more information, visit www.circuses.com.
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2008.
