Fight Animal Cruelty

Circus Cruelty

Circuses are considered one of the oldest forms of entertainment, and the ASPCA has been working to ensure protection for the animals used in them since the late 19th century. And today, as back then, whenever the circus comes to New York City, ASPCA humane law enforcement agents are on hand to inspect the conditions under which the animals are kept. And while we know that most people go to the circus because they love animals, what they don't realize is that they are supporting an industry that engages in animal cruelty.

Latest News

ASPCA and Ringling Bros. to Meet in Court This October
A federal judge has given lawyers for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus until Friday, June 6, to settle on an October trial start-date, at which time they will defend the circus against allegations that its inhumane treatment of Asian elephants violates the Endangered Species Act. This groundbreaking lawsuit, brought against the circus by an ASPCA-led coalition of animal welfare organizations and a former Ringling Bros. employee, Tom Rider, is expected to be decided by bench trial (rather than a trial by jury) by no later than November of this year.

For eight years, Ringling’s parent company, Feld Entertainment, has avoided its day in court by filing meritless counter-motions, even going so far as to accuse the ASPCA of bribing Rider in exchange for his testimony. However, after the ASPCA filed a motion that included new evidence on May 21, Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decided that justice would not be served by further delay.

The ASPCA recently has come into possession of documents revealing that Ringling Bros. keeps elephants virtually immobilized for the majority of their lives. The circus moves across the country by train, and the company’s own records show that elephants are chained in boxcars for an average of more than 26 hours at a time—and sometimes for as long as 60 to 100 hours straight.

For more information, please read our May 21 press release.

What You Can Do

• Don't go to the circus-unless it's one that doesn't feature any animal performers. Tell your friends, family and coworkers not to attend the circus, either.
  
  
• When Ringling Bros. is in the area, write a letter to the editor of the local paper explaining why the circus should not be supported.
  
  
• Contact the venue that will be hosting Ringling Bros.' show and ask them to withdraw the invitation or, at the very least, not to invite them back next year.
  
  
• Talk to your kids about why circuses are cruel. Visit our children's website, ASPCA Animaland, for information about circuses that's written especially for kids.

ASPCA Position The ASPCA is opposed to using wild or exotic (nonnative wild) animals, whether taken from the wild or captive-bred, in circuses, carnivals and other traveling animal shows because of the stress,cruelty and physical, social and psychological deprivations that the animals inevitably suffer, many as a direct result of being on the road much of the year. Learn More: ASPCA Policy and Position Statements

Then...
By the 1950s, circus folk were just beginning to consider animals' psychological and physical needs, but in the early days of the ASPCA, handlers unilaterally relied on intimidation, fear and no less than torture to manipulate their charges both under the big top and behind the scenes. Handlers in P.T. Barnum's circus commonly used the "burning method" to subdue animals, and in 1879 ASPCA founder Henry Bergh arrested a trainer for thrusting a hot poker up an elephant's trunk. Housing conditions were deplorable, too, and Barnum's menagerie of wild animals had succumbed to flames three times before the showman finally followed Bergh's suggestions to expand and strengthen the cages, limit the use of flammable straw bedding, and outfit Madison Square Garden with every fire-proofing device of the day.

...and Now
Today, we are concerned with humane training methods, issues of transport and the inherent cruelty involved in forcing captive wildlife to perform. According to accounts by several former Ringling Bros. employees and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), elephants who perform in Ringling Bros. circuses are routinely kept in chains for as long as 23 hours a day from the time they are babies-and are repeatedly beaten with sharp bullhooks. Documentation from a USDA investigation found that Ringling Bros. inflicted large wounds on baby elephants during a process in which the animals, less than two years old, were forcibly removed from their mothers. In the wild, baby elephants are not weaned until they are about four years old. Females stay with their mothers and the rest of their social units for their entire lives.

All of this treatment violates the law, and constitutes cruelty. It is time to end this archaic practice.

The ASPCA's Lisa Weisberg discusses the suit against Ringling Bros. in a
2006 interview with KTVU News.

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